Domestic oil basket rises to $59.35

The price of India's crude oil basket Monday rose to $59.35 per barrel from $58.74 on Friday, the petroleum and natural gas ministry said today.

The price of India's crude basket currently is over 21 per cent lower than the all-time high of $75.30 a barrel on August 8, even as it inches towards $60.

Thanks to the sharp dip in crude prices in September, the month's average was $61.04 per barrel compared with the August average of $70.84.

The recent softening of crude prices has provided some relief to India's oil marketing companies that had been reeling under heavy revenue losses.

The state-owned oil marketing companies have not revised retail product prices since June. The Indian crude basket comprises Oman-Dubai sour grade crude and Brent dated sweet crude in 58:42 ratio.

Monday, Brent crude closed at $58.92 a barrel, while Dubai and Oman benchmarks were at $59.13 and $60.15 a barrel, respectively, the data said.