The new price record set by crude in the international oil market at $146 a barrel, is all set to cast a major impact on the economies of the oil importing nations. India, which imports nearly 80% of its crude oil requirements, is expecting a major jump of nearly 76% in its oil import bill for 2008-09.
?At the current prices, India?s crude import bill may jump by up to 76% to $110-120 billion this year. It will go up (even more) if the prices rise further,? petroleum secretary M S Srinivasan said on Thursday.
In 2007-08, the oil import bill was $67.988 billion and the country had imported 121.672 million tons of crude.
This year, the import would be higher because Reliance Petroleum?s export oriented 29 mt refinery is set for commissioning in August-September.
Srinivasan, who is in Madrid attending the world petroleum congress (WPC), said fuel consumption growth will be 5-6% but if the current pricing policies continue, wherein auto fuels are cheaper than industrial fuel like naphtha, the demand may go up because there is a tendency for power generators to switch to diesel instead of fuel oil and naphtha for electricity generation.
While industrial fuels are directly linked to market rates, auto fuels like petrol and diesel and cooking medium fuels like kerosene and LPG are subidised.