India's Aug crude oil import bill up 18% on year despite fall in volumes
This story was originally published at 12:09 IST on 18 September 2026
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MUMBAI – The crude oil import bill of India for August was at $11.7 billion, up more than 18% from $9.9 billion in the previous year, a report by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed. The volume of crude oil imports, however, slipped to 19.0 million tonnes from 19.6 million tonnes in the same period last year.
The Indian crude basket's average price rose to $90.19 per barrel in August from $82.04 per barrel in July, and from $69.11 per barrel a year ago, the report showed. Crude prices increased sharply on both a monthly and on-year basis, as the war in West Asia, which started at the end of February, continued to escalate and kept the Strait of Hormuz shut. The price of the commodity remained high and crossed over $108 per barrel in the previous weeks as traffic through other key waterways in West Asia, such as the Red Sea, slowed down.
India's gross petroleum imports, including crude oil and petroleum products, fell to 21.7 million tonnes in August from 24.1 million tonnes a year ago. However, the value of gross petroleum imports during the month rose to $13 billion from $11.7 billion a year ago, according to the report.
In August, the country's exports of petroleum products also slipped to 4.9 million tonnes from 5.7 million tonnes a year ago, while the value of exports was up at $5.0 billion from $3.5 billion last year.
The country's dependence on crude oil imports fell slightly to 87.5% from 87.6% a year ago, according to the report. Domestic crude oil production in August fell to 2.3 million tonnes from 2.4 million tonnes last year. Consumption of petroleum products in India also declined to 18.6 million tonnes from 19.1 million tonnes a year ago. End
US$1 = INR 95.78
Reported by Khushi Singh
Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury
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