India’s common crude oil import price rose to almost $100 a barrel, its highest stage in three months, amid renewed volatility in world oil markets, whereas consumption of key petrolsuch as petrol and diesel additionally elevated, in keeping with authorities and trade knowledge.
The value of the Indian crude basket was $99.35 a barrel on Wednesday, in keeping with the Petroleum Planning and Evaluation Cell (PPAC), and is anticipated to cross the $100-mark by Friday amid renewed hostilities between the US and Iran, trade specialists stated. PPAC, the petroleum ministry’s knowledge keeper, publishes knowledge on the Indian basket with a lag. The basket represents a mean of the assorted grades of crude imported by Indian refiners, together with Brent, Oman and Dubai.
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International benchmarks surge as US-Iran battle escalates
Benchmark Brent crude gained practically 1% on Friday to shut at $96.28 a barrel, whereas West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled at $91.48, up 18 cents. Each benchmarks gained greater than 9% throughout the week because the US-Iran conflict escalated.
Different elements contributing to the rise in world crude oil and petroleum product costs embody a decline in US power inventories and Ukraine’s assaults on Russian refineries, specialists stated.
Consequently, India’s common petrol benchmark rose to a three-month excessive of $120.65 a barrel in September 2026 as of Thursday, whereas the typical diesel benchmark rose to a four-month excessive of $156.44 as of September 3, in keeping with the most recent obtainable knowledge.
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Greater crude costs may put gas charges beneath stress
Specialists stated that if worldwide oil costs proceed to rise, state-run oil firms may search the federal government’s approval to boost pump costs of petrol and diesel, significantly as home consumption can also be rising.
India imports greater than 88% of the crude oil it processes. Nevertheless, retail petrol and diesel costs have largely been insulated from excessive worldwide worth volatility, with state-run oil advertising firms (OMCs), which management greater than 90% of the nation’s 103,023 petrol pumps, conserving pump costs largely unchanged.
Business executives, who didn’t need to be named, stated public-sector OMCs are dealing with a double whammy. On one hand, they can’t increase petrol and diesel costs in tandem with their respective worldwide benchmarks as the federal government tacitly controls retail costs; on the opposite, demand for each fuels is rising.
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Petrol, diesel consumption rises in August
Based on provisional knowledge compiled by PPAC, petrol consumption in India rose 7.9% to three,824 thousand metric tonnes (TMT) in August 2026 from 3,544 TMT in the identical month final 12 months.
Diesel consumption elevated 6.4% to 7,001 TMT from 6,577 TMT throughout the identical interval.