India’s oil import bill declines by 35%

India’s oil import bill declined 35.3% during the first four months of FY24 due to easing crude oil prices over the past year.

Refiners imported 79.4 million metric tonnes of crude oil for $41.6 billion during April-July, compared to 81.3 MMT for $64.3 billion in the same period of last fiscal, according to the Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC).

This fall in import expense for the refineries and oil marketing companies (OMC) comes in the backdrop of around 30% fall in international crude oil prices. The Brent crude in July averaged at $80.05 per barrel, compared to $112.70 a barrel in July last year. In June this year, Brent was at $74.70 per barrel. The Indian crude basket price in July averaged at $80.37 per barrel, down from $105.49 during July 2022.

Global crude prices have eased from the multi-year-highs reached in the first half of last year as supply concerns somewhat eased and demand weakened owing to a projected global slowdown.