New Delhi, May 14 (IANS) Indian oil marketing companies will raise the price of petrol by Rs.5 per litre, the steepest hike of 8 percent, from Saturday midnight.

 
 According to officials, the three state-run companies will increase the price in a move which is expected to go towards plugging the losses suffered due to sale of subsidised domestic fuel.
 
 In Delhi, petrol was being sold for Rs.58.37 per litre, while it was Rs.63.08 per litre in Mumbai till Saturday.
 
 In June last year, the government had allowed oil companies to set the price of petrol as per the market situation, following which they had raised the price of petrol by Rs.3 per litre.
 
 Then another substantial price rise took place in December 2010, when companies had hiked the price by Rs.3 per litre.
 
 The last time price hike was in January, when oil companies had raised the price by four to two percent. However, they are still losing about Rs.8 per litre of petrol.
 
 Since then, there has been steady increase in the international prices, with the Indian crude basket priced at $113.09 per barrel Friday. The average of the previous fortnight from April 16-30 stood at $119.4 per barrel.
 
 The last time the monthly average was above $100 level was in August 2008, when the crude basket price was calculated at $113.05 per barrel.