Business
oi-Prakash KL
Crude oil prices are rising fast again with the Indian crude basket touching $128.80 a barrel (highest level since April 2026) on Tuesday.
On July 2, it was $67.16. Brent crude is now near $108 a barrel. Fresh attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure have made oil traders nervous. Pipelines and shipping routes are also under stress. Since the Middle East supplies a large part of the world’s oil, any threat to supply pushes prices up quickly. The Indian basket is still below the $157.04 seen on March 23.
Crude oil prices surged, with the Indian basket hitting $128.80 due to attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure, impacting supply routes and significantly increasing India’s oil import bill and potential domestic fuel prices.
PPAC data shows how the price moved in recent months. The basket averaged $114.48 a barrel in April, $106.23 in May, $83.22 in June, $82.04 in July and $90.19 in August. It climbed to $115.98 on September 9 and now it is at $128.80.
India imports roughly 85-90 percent of its crude oil needs, mostly from the Gulf region – including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar and routes around half of this through the Strait of Hormuz. Any prolonged disruption, especially closure threats, would immediately tighten global supply and push crude prices up sharply.
A spike in crude prices directly affects India’s fuel import bill and can put upward pressure on petrol and diesel rates at the pump. For example, each $1 rise in crude adds about $1 billion to India’s annual oil import bill, which eventually filters through to domestic fuel prices.
Anindya Banerjee, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, told ANI that oil marketing companies and the government will have less room to absorb higher costs without asking consumers to pay more.
“If oil prices continue to rise, this will definitely put pressure for a fuel price hike eventually,” ANI quoted Banerjee as stating.
