India’s spending on oil imports doubled, bought oil worth $ 119 billion in FY22

New Delhi, April 25. India’s crude oil import spending nearly doubled to $119 billion in the fiscal year 2021-22 that ended in March. This is due to the increase in demand and the increase in energy prices globally due to the war in Ukraine. India is the third largest country in the world in terms of oil consumption and import.

According to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Oil Ministry, India spent $119.2 billion on oil imports between April 2021 and March 2022. Its oil import bill stood at $62.2 billion in the same period last year. When oil prices hit a 14-year high in March, India spent $13.7 billion on oil imports in this month alone, compared to $8.4 billion in the same period last year.

Globally, oil prices started rising from January and crossed $100 a barrel in February. At the beginning of March, the price of oil had reached a record high of $140 per barrel. However, after that the prices started falling and now it is around $ 106 per barrel. According to PPAC, India imported 212.21 million tonnes of crude oil in the financial year 2021-22, compared to 19.65 million tonnes in the previous year.

This is lower than the year 2019-20 before the pandemic when 227 million tonnes of oil was imported. Then 101.4 billion dollars were spent on oil imports. India depends on imports for 85.5% of its crude oil requirements. According to PPAC, India’s reliance on oil imports was 85 per cent in 2019-20, which fell to 84.4 per cent in the subsequent year, but in 2021-22 it once again increased to 85.5 per cent.