The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Petroleum has flagged the need for importing a wider range of crude oil grades with the objective of reducing the cost of the Indian crude basket. In a recent report tabled in Parliament, it has also exhorted public sector undertakings in the oil sector to modernise their vintage refineries to improve their capabilities to process a wide variety of crude oil.
The Indian crude basket represents a derived basket comprising Sour grade (Oman & Dubai average) and Sweet grade (Brent Dated) of crude oil processed (indigenous and imported) in Indian refineries during the previous financial year.