New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS): Oil marketing companies (OMC) kept petrol and diesel prices unchanged for the 15th straight day.

In the national capital, petrol continued to be sold for Rs 101.84 per litre, while diesel was being sold at the unchanged rate of Rs 89.87 a litre on Sunday.

The pump price of fuel has been static since July 18.

One of the main reasons for the pause is an over 10 per cent fall seen in global oil prices with benchmark crude sliding to $69 a barrel from a high of over $77 a barrel just a couple of weeks ago. It has again risen close to over $75 a barrel on strong demand projections.

The Brent crude oil is currently around $75.41 per barrel.

With OPEC reaching an agreement to raise crude production, oil prices were expected to remain soft. This could make way for fuel prices in India to actually fall after a long interval, it was expected.

In Mumbai, where petrol prices crossed Rs 100-mark for the first time ever on May 29, the fuel price is at Rs 107.83 per litre. Diesel price in the city is also at Rs 97.45, the highest among the metros.

Petrol price in all metros has already crossed Rs 100 per litre-mark.

The over two week-long price pause comes after fuel prices increased on 41 days and remained unchanged on 49 days since May 1. The 41 increases have taken up petrol price by Rs 11.44 per litre in Delhi. Similarly, diesel price has increased by Rs 9.14 per litre in the national capital in the same duration.

Since April 2020, petrol prices have increased by Rs 32.25 per litre from Rs 69.59 a litre to Rs 101.84 a litre now in Delhi. Similarly, diesel prices during the period have increased by Rs 27.58 per litre from Rs 62.29 to Rs 89.87 a litre in the national capital.