Domestic crude oil basket slips to $57.03

The price of domestic crude oil basket slipped by 28 cents a barrel Friday to $57.03 a barrel, the petroleum and natural gas ministry said today.

The price of India's crude oil basket is currently over 24 per cent lower than the all-time high of $75.30 a barrel touched on August 8. Following the sharp dip in crude prices in September, the month's average was $61.04 per barrel compared with the August average of $70.84.

In October till Friday, the basket had averaged at $57.38 per barrel. The recent softening of crude prices has provided some relief to India's oil marketing companies that had been reeling under heavy revenue losses.

The state-owned oil marketing companies have not revised retail product prices since June.

The Indian crude basket comprises Oman-Dubai sour grade crude and Brent dated sweet crude in 58:42 ratio.

Friday, Brent crude closed at $57.05 a barrel, while Dubai and Oman benchmarks were at $56.53 and $57.49 a barrel, respectively, the data said.