Artefact · interactive
The Indian Crude Basket — 75/25 Dubai-Brent.
The price that anchors every formula — APM gas ceiling, refinery transfer price, under-recovery math — is not Brent. It is the Indian Crude Basket, a weighted composite notified daily. Three layers to understand its composition, why it's used, and when it diverges from Brent in meaningful ways.
75% Dubai-Oman sour + 25% dated Brent sweet
Source-weighted composite, officially notified daily
The Indian Crude Basket (ICB) is a weighted blend reflecting the actual sourcing mix of Indian refiners:
- ~75% Dubai/Oman sour crude average — reflects the Middle East heavy-sour volumes that historically dominated Indian intake.
- ~25% dated Brent (sweet light) — captures the non-Middle East share (historically Nigeria / Angola / Americas).
The weights are notional / historical — not re-weighted as the actual import mix shifts. This is significant: even as Russian Urals rose to 35-40% of actual intake from 2022, the ICB weights did NOT re-weight to include Urals.
Every policy formula pegs to ICB, not Brent
APM gas, RTP, under-recovery, windfall tax
When ICB drifts from Brent — and what it means
Sour discount widening · Russia Urals not in basket