Daily Analysis of 'The Hindu' - 29th April, 2020 | Additional Study Material for UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


Let’s fill up the tank 
?Oil prices continue to decline globally, with crude 
hitting multi-decade lows, as global demand 
evaporates. 
?West Texas Intermediate (WTI) sweet crude oil 
dropped to -$37.63 a bbl. 
?A negative price has never before been registered 
for a major global crude oil benchmark. 
?While WTI does not feature in I n d i a ’ s basket, Brent 
Crude Oil, which does, is trading around $25 a barrel, 
the lowest in 18 years. 
Page 2


Let’s fill up the tank 
?Oil prices continue to decline globally, with crude 
hitting multi-decade lows, as global demand 
evaporates. 
?West Texas Intermediate (WTI) sweet crude oil 
dropped to -$37.63 a bbl. 
?A negative price has never before been registered 
for a major global crude oil benchmark. 
?While WTI does not feature in I n d i a ’ s basket, Brent 
Crude Oil, which does, is trading around $25 a barrel, 
the lowest in 18 years. 
?A sharp reduction in oil prices is a bonanza for 
India. 
?India should look at this as an opportunity to 
strengthen its energy security by buying oil and 
filling up our Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR). 
?The dramatic reduction in oil prices offers a once-
in-a-generation opportunity for us to fill up our 
reserves in an extremely cost-effective way. 
?Currently, we do maintain an emergency 
stockpile of oil reserves: Under the existing 
Strategic Petroleum Reserves programme, India 
claims to have 87 days of reserves. 
 
Page 3


Let’s fill up the tank 
?Oil prices continue to decline globally, with crude 
hitting multi-decade lows, as global demand 
evaporates. 
?West Texas Intermediate (WTI) sweet crude oil 
dropped to -$37.63 a bbl. 
?A negative price has never before been registered 
for a major global crude oil benchmark. 
?While WTI does not feature in I n d i a ’ s basket, Brent 
Crude Oil, which does, is trading around $25 a barrel, 
the lowest in 18 years. 
?A sharp reduction in oil prices is a bonanza for 
India. 
?India should look at this as an opportunity to 
strengthen its energy security by buying oil and 
filling up our Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR). 
?The dramatic reduction in oil prices offers a once-
in-a-generation opportunity for us to fill up our 
reserves in an extremely cost-effective way. 
?Currently, we do maintain an emergency 
stockpile of oil reserves: Under the existing 
Strategic Petroleum Reserves programme, India 
claims to have 87 days of reserves. 
 
?Out of this, refiners maintain 65 days of oil 
storage and the rest of the reserves are held in 
underground salt caverns maintained by Indian 
Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL). 
?The existing and planned capacity for the 
underground reserves is 10 and 12 days of 
import cover for crude oil respectively. 
?There are a couple of issues to be highlighted 
here.  
1. Capacity does not directly translate into 
utilisation, which is partly because oil is an 
expensive commodity most days of the year. 
Page 4


Let’s fill up the tank 
?Oil prices continue to decline globally, with crude 
hitting multi-decade lows, as global demand 
evaporates. 
?West Texas Intermediate (WTI) sweet crude oil 
dropped to -$37.63 a bbl. 
?A negative price has never before been registered 
for a major global crude oil benchmark. 
?While WTI does not feature in I n d i a ’ s basket, Brent 
Crude Oil, which does, is trading around $25 a barrel, 
the lowest in 18 years. 
?A sharp reduction in oil prices is a bonanza for 
India. 
?India should look at this as an opportunity to 
strengthen its energy security by buying oil and 
filling up our Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR). 
?The dramatic reduction in oil prices offers a once-
in-a-generation opportunity for us to fill up our 
reserves in an extremely cost-effective way. 
?Currently, we do maintain an emergency 
stockpile of oil reserves: Under the existing 
Strategic Petroleum Reserves programme, India 
claims to have 87 days of reserves. 
 
?Out of this, refiners maintain 65 days of oil 
storage and the rest of the reserves are held in 
underground salt caverns maintained by Indian 
Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL). 
?The existing and planned capacity for the 
underground reserves is 10 and 12 days of 
import cover for crude oil respectively. 
?There are a couple of issues to be highlighted 
here.  
1. Capacity does not directly translate into 
utilisation, which is partly because oil is an 
expensive commodity most days of the year. 
2. In India, the SPR arrangement between the oil 
refineries and the Union or state governments is 
not specified well, though most of the refineries 
that hold stock are publicly-owned companies. 
?The first step, therefore, should be to introduce 
transparency and accountability in relation to the 
SPR. 
?The procedures, protocols and facts about Indian 
SPR storage require greater public and 
parliamentary scrutiny, just like I n d i a ’ s other 
strategic reserves (for instance, foreign exchange). 
?There should be role and process clarity regarding 
SPR mobilisation.  
Page 5


Let’s fill up the tank 
?Oil prices continue to decline globally, with crude 
hitting multi-decade lows, as global demand 
evaporates. 
?West Texas Intermediate (WTI) sweet crude oil 
dropped to -$37.63 a bbl. 
?A negative price has never before been registered 
for a major global crude oil benchmark. 
?While WTI does not feature in I n d i a ’ s basket, Brent 
Crude Oil, which does, is trading around $25 a barrel, 
the lowest in 18 years. 
?A sharp reduction in oil prices is a bonanza for 
India. 
?India should look at this as an opportunity to 
strengthen its energy security by buying oil and 
filling up our Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR). 
?The dramatic reduction in oil prices offers a once-
in-a-generation opportunity for us to fill up our 
reserves in an extremely cost-effective way. 
?Currently, we do maintain an emergency 
stockpile of oil reserves: Under the existing 
Strategic Petroleum Reserves programme, India 
claims to have 87 days of reserves. 
 
?Out of this, refiners maintain 65 days of oil 
storage and the rest of the reserves are held in 
underground salt caverns maintained by Indian 
Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL). 
?The existing and planned capacity for the 
underground reserves is 10 and 12 days of 
import cover for crude oil respectively. 
?There are a couple of issues to be highlighted 
here.  
1. Capacity does not directly translate into 
utilisation, which is partly because oil is an 
expensive commodity most days of the year. 
2. In India, the SPR arrangement between the oil 
refineries and the Union or state governments is 
not specified well, though most of the refineries 
that hold stock are publicly-owned companies. 
?The first step, therefore, should be to introduce 
transparency and accountability in relation to the 
SPR. 
?The procedures, protocols and facts about Indian 
SPR storage require greater public and 
parliamentary scrutiny, just like I n d i a ’ s other 
strategic reserves (for instance, foreign exchange). 
?There should be role and process clarity regarding 
SPR mobilisation.  
?Diversification can be based on geographical 
location (storing oil either domestically or 
abroad), storage location (underground or 
overground) and product type (oil can be held in 
either crude or refined form). 
?Energy is and will remain vital to I n d i a ’ s 
aspirations for growth.  
?The sharp fall in the price of oil presents an 
opportunity for the Union government to increase 
its SPR stockpile and achieve a degree of energy 
security.