Governments & oil companies making moolahs

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices in India have been stable for several months. After the results of the five state assembly elections in March last year, the prices had increased for a month, but since then the prices have remained stable. They are neither increasing nor decreasing. Petrol prices are stable around Rs 100 and diesel prices are around Rs 90 per litre. But during this time there has been a huge reduction in the price of crude oil all over the world and at the same time India has made a record of buying cheap crude oil from Russia. It is wonderful that after Russia’s attack on Ukraine where the whole world is keeping distance from Russia, India has made record purchases from Russia last year. By the time of December, India started buying more oil from Russia than Iraq and Saudi Arabia every day.

In October and November, India bought a little over nine lakh barrels of crude oil from Russia every day. But in December, India bought close to 1.2 million barrels of oil every day. This is much more than the purchases from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In the international market, the price of crude oil has come down to $75 per barrel and it is being bought from Russia at $60 per barrel. Despite this, the price is not being reduced in the retail market in India. Governments and companies are earning huge sums by keeping high prices. The profit of oil companies has increased by 82 percent in the quarter ended in December. In the current financial year i.e. 2022-23, the Government of India will earn eight lakh crore rupees from oil, while the state governments will earn three lakh crore rupees.