Indian oil basket hits fresh high

The basket of crude oil that Indian refiners buy hit a fresh high of $104.63 per barrel on Monday, the latest day for which data is available from the petroleum ministry.

The basket comprises Oman-Dubai sour (high sulphur) grade crude oil and Brent dated sweet (low sulphur) crude oil in 61.4:38.6 ratio.

A weak dollar and supply disruptions after Mexico shut three oil exporting ports due to bad weather are being seen as the reasons for the rise in oil prices.

"Last week's data showing low crude oil and fuel stocks in the US is also spurring prices," a Mumbai-based analyst said. Weekly US inventory data is expected on Wednesday.

The price of the Indian basket of crude oil has averaged $101.23 per barrel in April so far compared with $99.76 per barrel in March.