Introduction

Oil is the lifeblood of modern civilization. It fuels the vast majority of the worlds mechanized transportation equipment Automobiles, trucks, airplanes, trains, ships, farm equipment, the military, etc. Oil is also the primary feedstock for many of the chemicals that are essential to modern life. Oil was formed by geological processes millions of years ago and is typically found in underground reservoirs of dramatically different sizes, at varying depths, and with widely varying characteristics. crude oil (or petroleum) and natural gas are a major source of primary energy used world over. Crude re-mains one of the worlds most widely traded sources of energy. Most of the worlds oil and gas resources are concentrated in the west Asian region. Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of crude oil in the world and USA the largest consumer. For a long period, the developed world was the dominant oil consumer. However, in recent years developing economies, including China and India, have been reporting robust growth in consumption, backed by sustained economic growth. The largest natural gas reserves almost a quarter of the worlds total -- are with the Russian Federation. Natural gas can either be used as a primary source of energy as is by fertiliser units or can be broken down into vari-ous hydrocarbons such as ethane and its derivatives.

Crude oil Crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons that exists in a liquid phase in natural underground reservoirs. The liquid substance derived its material from the fossilization of plants and animals. It takes million of years for that fossilized plant an animal to be converted into crude oil substance. Crude oil is classified by the location of its origin and often by its relative weight or viscosity (light, intermediate or heavy). Refiners

may also refer to it as `sweet, which means it contains relatively little sulphur, or as `sour, which means it contains substantial amounts of sulphur and requires more refining in order to meet current product specifications.

Types Of Crude Oil In simple terms, crude oil comes in various varieties defined according to its density and sulphur content. While all varieties of crude yield all types of fuels, the ratio of higher and lower value fuels differs from crude to crude. Broadly there are two main types of crude light and heavy. Also, along the process of refining, any variety of crude oil generally yields three main kinds of distillates lower, middle and heavy or residuum. petroleum gas (LPG), petrol (gasoline) and naphtha. distillates involve fuels like kerosene and diesel. asphalt.
Factors Affecting Crude Oil Prices Demand and supply. Political situation in oil rich countries and production policies of Opec countries. Stock positions of large consumers such as the US. Weather conditions -- severe winter or summer pushes up demand for petroleum products. Speculative trading while demand-supply conditions are the basis for movement in prices, speculation about higher/lower demand also has an important role to play. Oil stocking by various countries as part of energy security strategy.

Global Scenario
Saudi Arabia, Russia and United States are the top three crude oil producing countries in the world. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) comprises 11 countries, which preserve more than three quarters of oil reserves in the world. The major contributors of this reserve are Middle East countries including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq. Together they contribute more than 50% of the total OPEC reserves. The economy of these countries largely depends on their oil export revenues. OPEC produces 40% of the world crude oil and 15% of natural gas. It represents 55% of total oil exports traded internationally.
Crude Oil Production

World crude oil production is ranging from 84 to 85 million barrels per day during 2006 to 2010. During this period, it has recorded a marginal growth of about 0.1%. In the same period, OPEC production share was about 41% with the output of 34 million barrels per day.

Top Crude Oil Producing Countries in 2008 (Mln barrels / day)

Saudi Arabia, Russia, USA, Iran and China were major producing countries of crude oil in the world in the year 2008 with the output of 10.78 mln barrel/ day, 9.7 mln barrel/ day, 8.5 mln barrel/ day, 4.17 mln barrel/ day and 3.9 mln barrel/ day respectively. Major Global Exchange New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is the biggest platform where energy futures are traded.

Domestic Scenario
India is the sixth largest consumer of crude oil in the world with about 70% of its local requirement met through imports. Due to relatively low inland production, India depends mainly on oil imports to meet its demand. Indian consumption stood robust in recent years. The country consumed average of about 2.7 million barrels per day during 2006 and 2008. India produces just over 26% of its total crude consumption. Government-run ONGC is the countrys largest oil producer, contributing about 78% to the total production.

India produced 650 thousand bbl / day in 2008 and it is estimated the production would rise in next three years. India reserves second highest crude oil deposits in Asia-Pacific after China. As of Jan 2009, Indian reserves stands at 5.6 billion barrels.

Indian Oil Refining Companies

The Indian petroleum industry is mainly divided into upstream and downstream companies. While the up-stream segment includes exploration of oil and gas, downstream companies are involved in refining and marketing of the products. Currently, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd is the biggest producer of oil (largely from the Mumbai High offshore fields) with a share of around 75 per cent in India's total crude production. The major units pertaining to the oil sector in India are Indian Oil Corporation (Public sector) Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (Public sector) Reliance India Ltd (Private sector) Essar Oil Refinery (Private sector) Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (Public sector) Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (Public sector) Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd (Public sector) ONGC is the major player in the Indian energy & petroleum sector

Import of Crude Oil in India India currently stands at third largest importer of crude oil in the world. About 70% of oil consumption in India is depended on imports. In 2007-08, India imported 121.672 million tonnes of crude oil that was 9 per cent higher than the 111.502 million tonnes imported in 2006-07. India's crude oil import bill was $68 billion in FY08, an astounding 40 per cent higher than $48.4 billion over the previous year because of the unprecedented rise in international crude oil prices. New Exploration Licensing Policy To explore and develop Indias oil and gas reserves, the government devised the New Exploration Licensing Pol- icy (NELP). The scheme was brought into effect in 1997-98, providing equal opportunities to all interested parties in the award of oil and gas exploration blocks. Under NELP, the successful bidder is required to enter into a production sharing contract with the government.

Refineries of crude oil

As on 31.03.2010 there were a total of 20 refineries in the country(Table 2.2), 17 in the Public Sector and 3 in the private sector. Public sector refineries are located at Guwahati, Barauni, Koyali, Haldia, Mathura, Digboi, Panipat, Vishakapatnam, Chennai, Nagapatinam, Kochi, Bongaigaon, Numaligarh, Mangalore, Tatipaka, and two refineries in Mumbai. The private sector refineries built by Reliance Petroleum Ltd and Essar Oil are in Jamnagar and Vadinar respectively. Total installed crude oil refining capacity in the country at the end of March 2010 was 178 million tonnes per annum. There was an addition of 29 million tonnes per annumto the installed refining capacity due to RPL(SEZ), Jamnagar, Gujarat refinery.Total processing of crude oil in the country decreased from 1,60,772 thousand metrictonnes (TMT) during 2008-09 to 1,60,003 TMT during 2009-10 registering a declineof -0.5 %. Capacity utilization of the refineries was 90.34% during 2008-09 and89.92 % during 2009-10. The maximum increase (12.3%) was at NRL refinery at refinery at Tatipaka. Except RPL(SEZ), Jamnagar, Gujarat out of 19 remaining refineries there was a decrease in thecapacity utilization at 9 refineries. Indian oil corporation, the state owned corporation had highest refining capacity of 49,700 TMTY. All units of IOC processed 50,696 TMT during 2009-10 as compared to 51,367 TMT during 2008-09. The capacity utilization of these refineries was 103.4% during 2008-09 and 102% during 2009-10. All the private refineries taken together processed 48,549 TMT during 2008-09 as compared to 47,916 TMT during 2009-10. The capacity utilization of these refineries during 2008-09 and 2009-1 stood at 67% and 66% respectively

World Crude Oil Consumption vs Production (2006 - 2010)