Indian oil basket slips, at $96.77/bl

The basket of crude oil that Indian refiners buy fell by more than $4 a barrel to $96.77 per barrel on Thursday, the latest day for which data is available.

The price of the basket, which hit a record $103.80 per barrel on March 14, slipped below the $100 mark for the first time since March 7.

"The fall in prices of the basket, which comprises Oman-Dubai sour (high sulphur) grade crude oil and Brent dated sweet (low sulphur) crude oil in a ratio of 61.4:38.6, reflects the easing of global crude oil prices as investors are booking profits," said a Mumbai-based analyst.

On Monday,US light crude for May delivery fell $1.70 to $100.14 a barrel in Globex electronic trading by 12:18 am EDT. Prices dropped by almost $9, about 8 per cent, last week as investors fled the commodities complex on fears that gains had been overdone, giving a lift to the beleaguered dollar in the process. London Brent crude fell $1.46 cents to $98.92.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia said it was working to expand its oil production and refinery capacity in order to maintain world economic growth, reaffirming its vow to invest tens of billions of dollars in new wells and infrastructure.

The price of the Indian basket of crude oil still averages $100.12 per barrel so far this month. In February, the basket averaged $92.37 per barrel, while in January, it averaged $89.52 per barrel.

The country's oil marketing companies have seen their daily retail losses go up to around Rs 410 a day as they are not allowed to pass on the burden of high global prices to consumers.

IOC, the country's largest marketing company, alone is losing Rs 9.70 on every litre of petrol that it sells and Rs 12.20 on every litre of diesel. It is losing Rs 21 per litre of kerosene sold and Rs 304 on every 14.2-kg cylinder of LPG.