Domestic oil basket falls $1.08 to $56.54

The price of the country's crude oil basket fell $1.08 a barrel on Wednesday to $56.54 (Rs 2,578) a barrel, the petroleum and natural gas ministry said today.

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

On Wednesday, Brent crude closed at $57.77 a barrel, while Dubai and Oman benchmarks were at $55.22 and $56.19 a barrel, respectively.

Crude oil for November delivery on the NYMEX fell 93 cents on Wednesday to close at $57.59 a barrel on speculation the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) doesn't have Saudi Arabia on board to reduce output.

In October till Wednesday, the basket averaged $57.36 per barrel compared with September's $61.04 and August's $70.84.

The softening of crude prices last month 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.