Non-subsidised cooking gas rate cut by Rs 43.50 per cylinder

Price of non-subsidised cooking gas (LPG) was on Thursday cut by Rs 43.50 per cylinder as international oil rates slumped to their lowest since May 2009.

A 14.2-kg cylinder of non-subsidised LPG will now cost Rs 708.50, down from Rs 752 previously, in Delhi, oil companies announced on Thursday.

This is the fifth straight reduction in rates of non- subsidised or market-priced LPG, which the customers buy after exhausting their quota of 12 cylinders at subsidised rates, since August.

A subsidised LPG refill currently costs Rs 417 in Delhi.

Price of non-subsidised LPG were last cut on December 1 by a steep Rs 113.

In six monthly reductions, non-domestic LPG rates have been slashed by Rs 214 per cylinder, bringing the price to a three-year low.

Price of subsidised LPG have not been changed.

Brent crude, a pricing benchmark for more than half of the world's oil, sank 48 per cent in 2014 as US producers and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) ceded no ground in their battle for market share amid a supply glut.

Brent fell to USD 57.33 a barrel, the lowest since May 2009.