April 17, 2024: Indian economy is acknowledged to be growing faster than many others in the world. Such a growth should normally be reflected in the quantity of crude oil import as domestic production did not make any significant increase during the year. Surprisingly, India’s Crude oil import was marginally down in FY 2023-24 from the level of the previous year. India’s FY is April-1 to March 31. Click column Special Database for details.

April 10, 2024: The US has now emerged as the biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the largest producer of crude oil, producing 21 per cent of the world’s oil. Will India benefit from the sudden US dominance in crude and LNG? India is already sourcing both crude and LNG from the US but in limited quantities. US crude falls in the category of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) which has a sulphur content of 0.24%, making it very "sweet." Judging by the types of crude being used in India, high sulphur/low sulphur crude ratio is 78% HS / 22% LS. India’s low sulphur crude imports account for only 23 million tons – or less than 10 per cent of import. The US crudes will have to fit into that tiny sliver of 10 per cent. Click Free Access column Petro Intelligence to read a comprehensive piece on the subject.