India exploits the fall in crude oil price, all the storages in the country filled up to the brim

New Delhi: – India has fully exploited the fall in the oil prices in the international market. The Indian oil companies have filled up their storages completely. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum, has informed that the oil has been stored in the storage tanks, pipelines and even in oil tankers. Pradhan said that the quantity of stored oil could fulfil 20% of the domestic demand for oil.

The oil prices crashed because of the falling demand in view of the Coronavirus pandemic. There has been a fall of nearly 60% in the international crude prices. The West Texas Intermediate from the United States had even recorded a negative rate for crude oil. India imports nearly 80% of its oil requirement. This may cost billions of dollars to the Indian exchequer. But taking advantage of this drastic fall in the oil prices, India has got its oil storages filled up to the brim.

Union Minister for petroleum, Dharmendra Pradhan, has shared this information. 32 million barrels of crude oil has been stored in the country. The oil companies have filled up all its tanks, including the strategic oil storages. Petroleum Minister Pradhan informed that over and above this, pipelines and oil tankers are also filled up with oil.

50 million tonnes (50 million barrels) of crude oil have been stored in the strategic oil tanks. 7 million barrels have been stored in the floating oil storages, and 25 million barrels have been stored in the pipelines. The Indian oil companies are storing crude oil even in the oil tankers. Pradhan said that this would reduce the oil bill for the country, resulting in the saving of billions of dollars. India had claimed in the last week itself that 95% of the oil storage tanks in the country are full. Pradhan revealed information against this background.

Currently, it is the third phase of the lockdown in the country. During this phase, the government has relaxed restrictions on certain businesses and vehicles in certain areas. The financial turnover is likely to increase further after the 17th of May. The demand for fuel had reduced by 70% in the month of April. But the demand recorded a rise of 15% on the first day of the third phase. Therefore, Pradhan expressed hope that the demand for oil and petroleum products will increase after the 17th of May.

The oil-producing countries have made record cuts in production to stop this rout of the fuel prices. But as per analysts, the production cut will hardly make a difference as there is a drastic reduction in the demand. As per one of the reports, the demand has reduced by nearly 30 million barrels per day. Therefore, analysts believe that India will extract further benefits from the situation in the near future.