India reports on crude oil imports
India's crude oil imports rose 10.6 % on year to 90.67 mm tons in the fiscal year ended March 2004 due to a surge in
domestic demand for petroleum products, a senior Indian Petroleum Ministry official said.
"India's petroleum products market grew 3.17 % on year to 107.4 mm tons in the last fiscal year. We imported
significantly more crude and spent in all $ 18.24 bn for crude imports last year as compared with $ 15.76 bn a year
earlier," Petroleum Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi told.
Chaturvedi said India's petroleum product imports in the last fiscal year rose 3.87 % on year to 7.51 mm tons. The
oil product imports were valued at $ 2.04 bn, compared with $ 1.82 bn in fiscal 2002-03.
"Our imports of LPG and kerosene rose substantially," said Chaturvedi. He said India exported 14.09 mm tons of oil
products valued at $ 3.52 bn in 2003-04. It exported 10.29 mm tons of oil products valued at $ 2.25 bn in the year
earlier period, he added.
"Our petroleum product exports grew 37 % in quantity terms and 56.4 % in value terms as compared with 2002-03," said
Chaturvedi.
Crude oil and petroleum products together are the biggest item in terms of value on India's import list.
The country imports about 70 % of its crude oil requirements, with more than 60 % of its imports coming from the
Middle East.
