Indian basket hits new peak

India's crude oil basket on Monday touched a new high of $88.28 (Rs 3,468) a barrel, up 76 cents from Friday, a petroleum and natural gas ministry release said today.

The Indian crude oil basket, comprising Oman-Dubai sour (high sulphur) grade crude and Brent dated sweet (low sulphur) crude in 59.8:40.2 ratio, had breached the $85-a-barrel-mark on October 29.

On Monday, Brent crude closed at $92.12 a barrel, marginally up from Friday's close.

Dubai crude closed at $85.77 a barrel, up $1.29, while Oman crude ended up $1.13 from previous close at $85.96 a barrel.

Global crude oil prices are at all-time high levels because of unprecedented weakness in the dollar against major currencies, which has boosted global prices in all dollar-denominated commodities.

Oil prices are also rising on the back of rising demand for oil products, especially in the northern hemisphere, which has bolstered demand from oil refineries in Asia.

So far in November, the oil basket has averaged $87.88 a barrel, as compared with $79.33 in October and $74.78 in September.