Domestic oil basket down by 32 cents a barrel

India's crude oil basket fell 32 cents to $59.05 (Rs 2,611) a barrel on Wednesday, the petroleum and natural gas ministry said today. The Indian basket comprises Oman-Dubai sour grade crude and Brent dated sweet crude in 58:42 ratio.

On Wednesday, Brent crude closed at $60.81 per barrel, down 98 cents from Tuesday.

Dubai benchmark was up 12 cents per barrel at $57.67, while Oman stood at $58.08, 15 cents higher, the data said. 
 

ON A DOWNSLIDE Indian crude oil basket prices in dollars/barrel
Period	Price/barrel
Mar 14	59.05
Mar 13	59.37
Feb average	56.53
Jan average	52.53
Dec average	60.35
Nov average	57.80
Oct average	57.27
Sep average	61.04
Aug average	70.84

Crude oil for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed at $58.16 a barrel Tuesday, up 23 cents from a day earlier. In the current month till Wednesday, the basket has averaged at $59.53 per barrel.

In February, the Indian basket had averaged $56.53 per barrel compared with $52.53 in January.