Net oil import figure at $30.69 bn

India's oil import bill shot up to $40 billion during the first 11 months of 2005-06 on import of 90.34 million tonnes of crude and 10.63 million tonnes of petroleum products.

While the country had an import bill of $34.95 billion on crude, it spent $5.29 billion on importing petroleum products in April-February 2005-06.

According to data available with the petroleum ministry, the country exported 19.51 million tonnes of petroleum products worth $9.55 billion in the same period. With this, India's net import bill stood at $30.69 billion, crossing the $22.94 billion bill for the previous fiscal.

During April-February 2005-06, public sector oil firms imported 62.52 million tonnes of crude oil for $25.06 billion while private sector Reliance Industries imported 27.81 million tonnes of crude for $9.89 billion.

PSUs imported 4.87 million tonnes of products, with cooking gas having the largest share in the import. About 2.32 million tonnes of petroleum gas was imported for $1.25 billion.