Lok Sabha

Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Panchayati Raj informed in the Lok Sabha in a written reply today that the gross import of crude oil and petroleum products and the percentage increase/decrease in the gross import bill during the last three years was as follows :

He further said while the heavy expenditure on oil imports is impacting substantially on the current account of the balance of payments, in view of the comfortable position of our foreign exchange reserves and the crucial contribution which energy makes to the growth process, oil imports are vital to the development of the economy in a situation where only about 30% of our oil requirement is met by the domestic crude industry.

In reply to another question, Shri Aiyar informed the House that during 2003-04, a quantity of 90.433 MMT of crude oil was imported from various countries. The estimated amount of foreign exchange paid for crude oil import during 2003-04 was 18,268 million US Dollars.