new delhi fuel prices are expected to come down shortly as the opec grouping on sunday agreed to add more barrels to the market averting a supply squeeze and reducing the risk of an inflationary oil price spikethe grouping which includes russia decided to raise production by 400000 barrels per day bpd from august till december to restore 2 million bpd of production or about 44 of indias daily requirementread alsopetrol sales top precoronavirus level for first time since 2020 lockdownindias petrol sales in the first fortnight of july shot past the previrus level for the first time since the lockdown in 2020 as the country got back to business after a second covid wave and lifting of travel curbs prompted people to hit the highways in search of cooler climeshigh fuel prices forcing people to cut expenditure on health utilities sbi reportfuel prices hitting record highs have been a cause for concern since the past few months so much so that it is now eating into essential consumption expenditure of the common man says a report by state bank of indias sbi economic research teamit also agreed on a higher production quota for united arab emirates iraq and kuwait all indias major suppliersuaes demand for a higher quota had caused a rift with the opec lynchpin saudi arabia and threatened a supply squeeze amid recovering demand in india china the us and europethe opec deal comes within days of indias new oil minister hardeep singh puri reaching out to his uae and saudi counterparts ahmed al jaber and abdulaziz bin salman respectively leveraging new delhis close ties with abu dhabi and riyadh puri had offered to work with them to calm the market and conveyed concerns over the recessionary impact of high oil prices on demand recoverymore barrels will ease pump prices and inflation both of which have risen to record levels and drawn opposition flak so politically the deal will help the government blunt some of the criticism in parliament which begins its monsoon session on monday once fuel prices start declining lower oil prices will also give the government financial breathing spaceindias crude cost has already come down to 73 per barrel from a high of 7778 as benchmark brent has been edging lower from its 30month high on news of a possible saudiuae deal and resurgence in covid19 cases in some regionspetrol and diesel prices are set according to a 15day rolling average of their international quotes and the dollar exchange rate crude price is an intermediary factor this is expected to reflect at the consumer level in a matter of days and consumers can expect pump prices to slide once additional barrels start flowingpetrol price is ruling over rs 100 per litre and diesel above rs 90 in most states as high central and state taxes amp up the impact of rising crude the rupee too had recently weakened against the greenback putting upward pressure on pump pricesthe opec grouping had last year cut