NEW DELHI: India has emphasised the importance of balancing market stability, affordability, with pragmatism and its commitment to support efforts to achieve balance in global energy markets amidst recent trends and volatility in global oil markets. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri emphasized the importance of balancing market stability, affordability, with pragmatism during a telephonic conversation with OPEC Secretary General.Haitham Al-Ghais on 19 April, 2024.
The discussion covered recent trends and volatility in the global oil markets and their implications for international energy stability. India and OPEC have a longstanding partnership. India is the second largest export destination for OPEC. During financial year 2022-23, India imported crude oil, LPG, LNG, and petroleum products from OPEC countries, amounting to approximately USD 120 billion.
India’s crude oil imports dropped 16 per cent in the fiscal year ended March 31 as lower international rates, but the dependency on overseas suppliers rose to a new high, official data showed. India imported 232.5 million tonnes of crude oil, which is refined into fuels like petrol and diesel, in the 2023-24 fiscal (April 2023 to March 2024), almost the same as in the previous financial year. India paid $132.4 billion for the imports in FY24 as against $157.5 billion import bill in 2022-23, oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) data showed.
The world’s third largest oil importing and consuming nation has been able to add to its domestic production drop, raising its import dependence. Import dependence of crude oil soared to 87.7 per cent in 2023-24, up from 87.4 per cent, according to PPAC. Domestic crude oil production was almost unchanged at 29.4 million tonnes in 2023-24. Besides crude oil, India spent USD 23.4 billion on import of 48.1 million tonnes of petroleum products like LPG. It also exported 62.2 million tonnes of products for USD 47.4 billion.
India’s domestic production stayed constant in the fiscal year 2023–24 (FY24), but the country’s consumption of petroleum products climbed by 4.6 per cent to 233.3 million metric tonnes (MMT). A recent report from the oil ministry states that, aside from LPG, lubes, bitumen, petcoke, and LDO, the largest increases in petroleum production consumption (a measure of oil demand) in FY24 were 6.4 per cent for motor spirit (MS), or petrol, 4.4 per cent for high speed diesel (HSD), 11.8 per cent for ATF and 14.3 per cent for naptha. 223