(ET)
India’s gross petroleum import bill, including shipments of both crude oil and petroleum products, rose 9 per cent last financial year to $ 80.3 billion on the back of seven percent rise in volumes and a three percent increase in the average crude price, according to fresh data released by the oil ministry.
Crude oil imports rose by more than five percent to 213 million tonne (MT) and the crude oil import bill increased by more than nine percent to $70 billion last fiscal as compared to $64 billion recorded in 2015-2016.
India’s petroleum product imports by quantity rose by 22 percent last fiscal year to 36 MT from 29.5 MT in 2015-2016. “The increase in petroleum product imports can be attributed to increase in pet-coke imports by the private sector,” the oil ministry’s technical arm Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) said in a report. In terms of value the country’s petroleum product import bill rose by five percent to $10.6 billion last fiscal year.
Cumulatively, the country imported around 249 million tonnes (MMT) of crude and petroleum products during 2016-2017, a seven percent growth over 232 MT imported in previous fiscal year.
