New Delhi: India's crude oil import bill fell to a third in the first four months of the current fiscal after international oil rates nosedived on demand evaporating due to the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdowns, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday. "COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented fall in demand which in-turn has reduced revenue consequent to lockdown imposed in the country," he said.With relaxations in restrictions, demand rose to 14.63 million tonnes in May and to 16.25 million tonnes in June. It spent just USD 3.1 billion on the import of 16.6 million tonnes of crude oil in April. This compares with USD 9.7 billion spent on the import of 19.7 million tonnes of crude oil in April 2019.The May crude oil import bill was lowest in many years at USD 2.3 billion. "However, there was a fall in oil product demand due to COVID-19, which led to filling up of oil storage at all places.

Source: Economic Times September 14, 2020 10:27 UTC