A responsible consumer

Strategic oil reserve is an important tool during ongoing crisis

The government’s decision to bolster petroleum stocks in India’s strategic reserve makes sense on multiple levels and should be welcomed. On the one hand, it of course makes basic economic sense to buy more when prices are low. While the price of a barrel of crude oil in the international market has rebounded from the lows it saw at the beginning of the month — Brent crude was trading at under $25 a barrel on April 1, and is now $10 a barrel higher — it is still almost $22 a barrel cheaper than the average of the past year,