據今日油價9月22日報道，印度石油和天然氣部周一表示，印度利用今年早些時候超低的原油價格將其戰略儲備石油價格降低到每桶19美元，在此過程中節省了近7億美元。

印度外交部在一份聲明中表示：“利用國際市場的低原油價格，印度在2020年4月至5月購買了1671萬桶原油，并填補了在維沙卡帕特南、曼加羅爾和帕杜爾建立的三個戰略石油儲備。”

4月和5月，印度購買原油的平均成本為每桶19美元，而2020年1月的油價為每桶60美元。由于今年第二季度初出現多年來最便宜的油價，印度在原油進口賬單上節省了6.851億美元。

和世界上最大的石油進口國中國一樣，印度也在4月份利用幾十年來最低的油價囤積原油。因此，與去年同期相比，印度在2020年4月至7月間進口的原油要少得多，原因是石油價格明顯較低，而且在燃料需求下降的情況下，進口量也較低。

由于國際油價基準大幅下跌，印度本財年第一季度的原油進口總額在4 至7月份為124億美元。上周，普拉丹表示，印度進口了5720萬噸原油，相比之下，2019年同期進口了7490萬噸，價值362億美元。

印度的燃料需求在最初的全國封鎖期間暴跌了60%，8月份再次出現月度環比下降，為4月份以來最大月度降幅，原因是局部封鎖影響了人員流動性和經濟活動。

印度的石油進口量也可能引發石油市場的擔憂。6月份，印度石油進口量降至5年多以來的最低水平，而7月份的進口量則跌至10多年來的最低水平，原因是當地的停產和煉油廠維修。

王佳晶 摘譯自 今日油價

原文如下：

India Topped Its Strategic Petroleum Reserves With $19 A Barrel Oil

India used the ultra-low crude oil prices earlier this year to top its strategic petroleum reserves with oil at $19 a barrel, saving nearly US$700 million in the process, India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said on Monday.

“Taking advantage of the low crude oil prices in international market, India purchased 16.71 million barrels (mbbl) of crude in April – May, 2020 and filled all the three Strategic Petroleum Reserves created at Vishakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur,” the ministry said in a statement, quoting Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan as telling Parliament in a written reply today.

The average cost at which India bought the crude oil in April and May was $19 per barrel, compared to $60 a barrel oil price in January 2020. Thanks to the cheapest oil in years at the start of the second quarter, India saved US$685.11 million on its crude oil import bill, the ministry said.

India, like the world’s largest oil importer, China, took advantage of the lowest oil prices in decades in April to stock up on crude oil.

As a result, India paid much less for the crude oil imported between April and July 2020 compared to the same period last year, due to the significantly low oil prices and lower import volumes amid decreased fuel demand.

Because of the slump in international oil price benchmarks, India’s crude oil import bill was US$12.4 billion in April-July, the first quarter of India’s fiscal year. For this sum, India imported 57.2 million tons of crude oil, compared to imports of 74.9 million tons worth US$36.2 billion for the same period of 2019, Pradhan told Parliament last week.

Fuel demand in India, which crashed by 60 percent during the initial nationwide lockdown, fell again in August month over month, for the biggest monthly decline since April, as localized lockdowns impacted mobility and economic activity.

India’s oil import volumes could also be a source of concern on the oil market—imports fell in June to the lowest in more than five years, while the imports in July slumped to their lowest level in over a decade amid local lockdowns and refinery maintenance.