The Hindu Business Line : Indian crude basket crosses $100 mark

The international crude prices continued to soar on Tuesday. The US crude touched a high of $109.20 per barrel and London Brent $105.40 a barrel on Tuesday.

Weak dollar and heightened speculative activity is pushing crude prices.

The Indian basket has averaged $98.46 a barrel in March as against the February average of $92.37 per barrel.

The current year average of the Indian basket was at $77.98 per barrel. The Indian crude basket comprises Oman-Dubai sour (high sulphur) grade crude and Brent dated sweet (low sulphur) crude in 61.4:38.6 ratio.

Brent crude on Monday closed at $105.90 a barrel. Both Dubai and Oman crude eased marginally. Dubai crude closed at $96 a barrel and Oman crude at $97.12 a barrel on Monday.

volatility

The volatility in crude prices is putting further pressure on fuel retailers, who are losing Rs 360 crore per day on petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene, as they continue to sell products below the cost price.

Public sector oil marketing companies are losing Rs 9.68 a litre on petrol, Rs 12.21 per litre on diesel, Rs 20.95 per litre on kerosene and Rs 303.66 per 14.5-kg domestic LPG cylinder.

Despite increase in international oil prices, the Government has not increased prices of kerosene sold under the public distribution system and cooking gas. The Government has brought a marginal increase in petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2 per litre and Re one a litre respectively with effect from February 15.

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Dinsha Patel, informed the Rajya Sabha that the Government was closely monitoring international oil prices and will continue to protect the interests of the consumer.

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