Indian oil basket hits 10-mth high

Jul-0370.67 Jul-0269.62 July average (so far)70.15 June average68.19 May average65.74 April average65.52 Jan-Mar average56.5 FY08 average (so far)66.63 FY07 average62.46 FY06 average55.72 Highest price till date (Aug 8, '06)75.20 Highest price since Jan (Jul 03, '07)70.67 Lowest price since Apr '05 (May 19, '05)45.61 Lowest price since Apr '02 (Apr 12, '02)22.22  The Indian basket had averaged $68.19 in June, $65.74 in May and $65.52 in April.  In the financial year ended March, the basket price had averaged $62.46 compared with $55.72 the previous year.  Bloomberg adds: Crude oil was little changed in New York after reaching a 10-month high yesterday on concern refinery breakdowns will slow US gasoline output.  Gasoline futures rose for a fifth day yesterday after Flint Hills Resources, a unit of Koch Industries, and Valero Energy Corp reported faults at plants in Texas. US refineries probably operated at a 90.2 per cent rate last week, according to a Bloomberg survey before a July 5 government report. That is below the 93.1 per cent that units operated last year.  Crude oil for August delivery was at $71.20 a barrel, down 21 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 3:34 pm in Singapore.  The contract rose 32 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $71.41 a barrel yesterday, the highest close since August 25. It has set 10-month highs in each of the past four sessions.  Oil futures traded in a 79 cent-range yesterday, the narrowest this year, before the Independence Day holiday in the US today.  Oil prices gained the past three weeks as refinery breakdowns and erratic imports slowed the recovery in below-average US gasoline supplies.