'Indian refiners can operate without Russian crude from a technical standpoint, but the shift would involve major economic and strategic trade-offs'
Even as Russia and West Asia have been slugging it out for market share in India to sell their crude oil, the US is quietly making its moves on the sidelines. The US has doubled its share of the Indian crude market in the past few months, according to industry sources and ship-tracking data. Some of the increase in America's market share may have come at the expense of Russia, India's biggest crude oil supplier, said industry sources.
India's purchase of US crude oil has picked up in 2025 and could easily double their previous levels, government officials said on Wednesday. The surge comes in the wake of the then-incoming Donald Trump administration's announcement that it would consider hiking tariffs on a reciprocal basis, and pushed some countries, especially those with large trade surpluses with the US, to buy more of its energy.
Crude oil shipments from the US to India rose to the highest levels in November since the conflict began in Ukraine in late February, sparking hopes of a resurgence in oil flows from the US to the subcontinent, reveals shipping data. Shipments from the US have surged as Western nations prepare to impose additional sanctions on Russian crude flows. The US shipped around 450,000 barrels per day of crude last month to India, twice that of shipments in October, according to data from London-based commodity intelligence provider Vortexa.
A government official said out that with hardly any economic activity, an immediate duty hike will not be productive and could be announced once the lockdown eases and demand revives.
The Oil prices have surged and surpassed $85 per barrel after several oil producer countries announced surprise cuts in production, TASS Agency reported. According to the Russian News Agency, this is the first time since March 7 that the price of futures contracts of Brent crude oil surged. The price of futures contracts of Brent crude oil for June 2023 delivery on London's ICE surpassed $85 per barrel.
As the oil moneybags get lighter, it will be increasingly difficult for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to continue to support incendiary radicals. And over time, there will be greater integration of Muslim life and culture into the "mainstream".
Expects exemption of oil and gas profits from minimum alternate tax and all cess in the nature of excise duty are to be subsumed in GST.
The NSE Nifty slid 40.75 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 10,490.75 after scaling a new peak of 10,552.40.
If the war in the Israel-Gaza region escalates into a larger West Asian conflict, it could pose problems.
IndusInd Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, sinking over 12 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, M&M, Tata Steel, ONGC and Maruti. On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp and Nestle India were the gainers. NSE Nifty plummeted 280.40 points, or 3.03 per cent, to 8,981.45.
Where do the commodities market go in the new year? Sonali Ranade offers an insight.
A swift recovery in oil demand in India is not only helping the stability of the global market, it is giving huge fiscal headroom to the government in terms of additional excise duty.
While OPEC has been unable to agree on an output freeze in an effort to support prices, Iraq was the latest Middle East producer to raise its exports quota
Over the previous eight sessions, Brent had lost about $7 a barrel, almost 20 per cent
Petrol and diesel prices were on Wednesday hiked by 24-25 paise per litre, the steepest increase since July 5 Union Budget, as a fallout of turmoil in global oil markets following drone attacks on Saudi Arabian crude oil facilities.
Prices are sustainable and not just driven by speculative gains
Once the US dollar launches into its final bull leg from the 79 region towards 84, the appreciating currency should put a lot of pressure on commodities that will perhaps trigger the capitulation that the market needs in commodities liker gold, silver and WTI crude, says Sonali Ranade.
Oil edged up on Tuesday, steadying after a 5 per cent plunge in the previous session that saw prices touch fresh 5-1/2-year lows in an oversupplied market.
'We expect market consolidation and recommend buying during market dips.'
No change in retail prices as oil marketing firms to absorb increase
oil market remained under pressure and big gains are unlikely.
Indian companies place orders worth $600 million for US crude, which is likely to increase by nearly $2 billion in the near future.
Both crude benchmarks are now down around 20 per cent since their last peak in June
The NSE 50-share index, after moving between 10,469.90 and 10,395.25, finally concluded at 10,458.65, up 41.50 points
Petrol and diesel are among the 90-plus commodities that have been approved by the government for derivatives trading
The dollar's preliminary moves after the low 80.90 are supportive of a like dollar rally back to 85.50. We should see confirmation of that in the early part of next week, says Sonali Ranade
Chinese stock markets suffered their biggest single-day drop since the global financial crisis.
Oil & gas, banking and pharma sector stocks stole the show
Usually, a fall in oil prices is followed with a cut in retail prices of auto fuels and the government passes on the benefit to consumers. However, Morgan Stanley believes gains this time around will remain capped.
The BSE benchmark Sensex surged about 241 points to end at 35,165.48 and the NSE Nifty gained 84 points to close at 10,688.65.
Economics and politics both have major roles in determining oil prices.
The 50-share NSE Nifty ended up 37.05 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 10,397.45 points
American refiners closed some of their production, leading to futures trade benchmarked to the West Texas Intermediate going negative.
India's rupee is likely to remain under pressure due to high prices of crude oil and other commodities, and may stabilise at around 79-80 against the US dollar in the near term, say experts amid limited headroom available with the Reserve Bank to check the weakening of the domestic currency. The currency has slumped over 5 per cent this year after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent international crude oil prices soaring to a decade high. On Monday, rupee ended at a fresh all-time low of 78.34 (provisional) against the US dollar.
EIA expects the price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil to average about $100 per barrel in 2012.
The dollar is king in an intermediate correction, says Sonali Ranade
On Tuesday, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met Russian oil giant Rosneft's chief executive officer Igor Sechin and discussed raising crude imports from that country, in addition to talks about going for more acquisitions.
A massive drone strike on the world's largest crude-processing facility operated by Saudi Arabia's Aramco has driven oil prices to their highest level in nearly four months. The attack has knocked out over half of Saudi Arabia's production as it cut 5.7 million barrels per day or over 5 per cent of the world's supply.
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