New Delhi: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in a statement issued on Thursday stated that crude oil prices in the Indian basket rose by $0.97 per barrel to $60.0 per barrel as on 1 November 2017 in comparison to the previous day of trade.
Crude oil prices for the Indian basket stood at $59.03 after the day’s trade on 31 October 2017. The Indian basket represents Oman, Dubai and Brent crude average.
Crude oil prices have been firming up post the dip in the last two financial years. Crude prices soared as high as $123.61 per barrel in March 2012 and plummeted to $28.12 per barrel in January 2016.
According to BP’s statistical review of world energy for June 2017, India is the second largest consumer of oil in the world second only to China. India consumes 330,000 barrels of oil per day whereas China utilizes 400,000 barrels per day.
India currently imports one-third of its energy needs. The country import 7529 metric tonnes of crude worth Rs 41,883 crore.
The National Democratic Alliance government has been harping on the need to reduce imports. Minister for petroleum and natural gas, Dharmendra Pradhan has set a target of reducing crude import dependence by 10% by 2021-22 by fostering domestic production and use of alternate fuels.
Currently, Indian state-run firms have 49 oil and natural gas blocks across 23 countries with ONGC Videsh Ltd owning stakes in 32 assets across 16 countries.
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