India to top up strategic oil reserve with Rs 5,000 cr buy as prices drop

Global crude oil fell about 40% in March (to about $25 a barrel now) so far after talks of production cut between the OPEC and Russia failed.

India has decided to take advantage of the low oil prices in major producing centres in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to top up its strategic oil reserves created to meet the emergency in times of exigencies, two government officials privy to the information said.

It has decided to buy oil worth Rs 5,000 crore (about $670 million) at current price of around $30 a barrel for deliveries starting in April-May to fill up three petroleum reserve caverns with a capacity of 5.33 million tonnes (MT) of oil created by the India Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL).

Global crude oil fell about