labels: Economy - general
Indian crude basket falls to $43.17 a barrel as global prices skid news
04 December 2008

The Indian crude basket hit a fresh low at $43.17 a barrel, the lowest in the current fiscal and the lowest for the past four years, amidst a steady fall in global oil prices.

International prices of crude oil also fell to its lowest in four years, to levels around $46 a barrel helped by reports of the top two US automakers seeking bankruptcy protection and continuing job losses across the globe.

The Indian crude basket has averaged $102.09 a barrel so far in the current fiscal and this is the first time it has fallen below $50 a barrel since the financial year 2005. The crude basket has fallen 70 per cent from a high of $142.04 a barrel in July.

Sweet light crude for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange touched a low of $45.30 a barrel in early morning trade - its lowest  since 9 February 2005 - and was down 64 cents at $46.20 a barrel before noon.

North Sea Brent on the London market was down 61 cents at $44.83 a barrel.

Oil prices have dropped more than $100 a barrel from an all-time high of $147.27 hit in July, echoing the global economic slide towards a recession.

Oil prices also ignored an easing of US stocks of crude oil, gasoline and distillates last week. US crude stocks fell 400,000 barrels last week.

US crude imports also fell 1.46 million barrels a day to 9.5m bpd last week while refinery utilisation dropped 1.9 percentage points to 84.3 per cent.

Oil producer group OPEC will consider another round of output curbs to try to defend prices when it next meets on December 17 in Algeria.


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Indian crude basket falls to $43.17 a barrel as global prices skid