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  The hike on Wednesday followed a 14 paise a litre increase in price of petrol on Tuesday and 15 paise per litre rise in diesel rate.

Following the drone strikes on Saturday, international oil prices rallied nearly 20% on Monday in intraday trading — the biggest jump in almost 30 years — as the attacks halved Saudi Arabia’s output.

Rates have in subsequent two days retreated, conceding about half of the gains. Brent crude future on Wednesday dipped 0.26% to $64.38 per barrel after jumping to near $72 in reaction to the disruption. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude lost 0.5% to $59.06 per barrel.

This came after signs that Saudi Arabia was quickly restoring production at Abqaiq facility.

Abqaiq is now processing about 2 million barrels a day and should return to pre-attack levels of about 4.9 million barrels by the end of September, Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reportedly stated that two-thirds of production has been restored and the kingdom sees a full recovery in 10 days.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer, is keeping a close watch on the developing situation.

India imports 83% of its oil needs, with Saudi Arabia supplying a fifth of these. Saudi Arabia is its second-biggest supplier after Iraq. It sold 40.33 million tonne of crude to India in 2018-19 fiscal, when the country had imported 207.3 million tonne of oil.