He was addressing a Facebook Live interaction on the challenges and measures to overcome COVID-19, India has tried to make the most of the unprecedented drop in crude oil prices.
He said, “Up to 60 lakh LPG cylinders are delivered every day by the distributors. They even risk their lives to deliver these cylinders in red zones.”
Mr Pradhan said that India has imported and stored crude oil to meet 20 per cent of domestic demand.
"A crude price drop of this magnitude has never been seen before. Prices went into negative territory in the US as the demand crashed. To make the most of the situation, India's strategic crude oil storage reserves have been filled up in this situation. Now there is 5.33 million tonne (MT) of crude oil stored in the country in underground caverns. Of this, nearly 2 MT has been recently procured at these low prices," Mr Pradhan said.
"Another 7 MT crude has been procured by private and public sector companies and parked in floating reserves in the form of tankers. Some 25 MT crude oil is in the pipelines and other segments of the refinery cycle," he said.
"In all there is around 20 per cent of domestic demand that can be met by this stored low-priced crude oil when there is a need," he added.
Due to the fall in prices, India's import bill will decrease.
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