These figures give some measure of the exploitation , still continuing , of the Middle East .
The story does not end here . It is evident that an oil price structure basing itself on these Middle East crude prices would have yielded massive profit but the oil kings went on further . Though the refineries of north western Europe operate on Middle East crude , the prices of refined product are arrived by adding freight from the Gulf to the refined produced prices ruling in that area . To the enormous profit earned on Middle East is superimposed the difference between US and European refining costs . The imagination is staggered at the result . Exploitation of India So much for Europe . It is interesting to note that the same pattern applies , with even less justification or logic , to India . India draws not even an ounce of crude from the US , yet the refineries that operate in India base their prices on those ruling in the Gulf of Mexico . As long as this remains the position the profits of the refineries remain assured and it is equally certain that the Indian economy will continue to pay an enormous price for oil , an essential for development .
The exploitation of the Indian consumer does not end here . As Comrade Sadhan Gupta pointed out in Parliament the market price of petroleum products in India is calculated by adding to the refinery price not only costs but a profit element of 100 per cent on top of these costs . It is a system which improves on the adage “ heads we win , tails you lose ,” for it is true to say that under this system the more that is spent , the greater is the profit . Such practices would not be regarded as normal even in Wonderland .
Still more remarkable is the fact that this price system is not a secret but openly written into the refinery agreement . It has July - 2021 operated , therefore , with the knowledge and consent of the Congress government . Even more , the system was defended as late as during the last session of Parliament by the Minister of Works , Housing and Supply .
The minister ’ s Parliamentary pronouncement was made at a time when it was public knowledge , that substantial quantities of oil had been discovered in Assam . This discovery has a profound effect on India ’ s oil situation and a few comments on this physical aspect of the oil problem would be appropriate at this stage .
India ’ s current consumption of petroleum products runs at around four million tons a year , this figure is expected to grow to some seven million tons by the end of the Second Plan and to roughly fourteen million tons by the end of the Third Plan period .
Current refining capacity , in which we include the proposed Caltex refinery at Vishakapatnam , covers roughly four-and-a-half million tons ; it can be said , therefore , that India is temporarily self-sufficient in refining . All the existing and proposed refineries operate , however , on imported crude except the small unit at Digboi which is fed on Assam oil . India ’ s dependence is heightened by her total dependence on foreign oil companies in respect of storage at import centres and her almost total dependence on the same interests in respect of tankers needed to move oil from overseas production areas Assam region is insignificant in quantity and by reasons of its location presents great problems in transportation .
The picture is one of almost total dependence and it has to be appreciated that it is not only Indian industry but , more significant , the mechanical movement of her armed forces , by land , sea or air which is at the mercy of the foreign oil monopolists .
It would be unrealistic to be overwhelmed by this picture . On the one hand , India is a valuable market to the oil groups , not all of whom are yet represented in the country . In brief it is possible for a resolute government operating in the interests of the masses and with the conscious support of the people behind it , to utilise India ’ s value to the foreign oil groups , to the advantage of India . It must also be remembered that a substantial oil find has now been located in Assam . The yield of this discovery is currently estimated at round two million tons a year and fresh fields are expected in the same area where drilling and prospecting are in progress . Even the present find has epochal significance in that it closes the era of relative dependence , in the sense that with two million tons assured the security and defence services of India will no longer be reliant on a foreign product . Immediate Demands The bargaining power of India is immensely enhanced and the democratic movement must ensure by its vigilance and prompt action that this great opportunity does not slip by . India can , if she so wills , break the chain of oil prices and render thereby a service to all the peoples of the non-socialist world . Certain concrete aims may be now set forth as the immediate demands of the Indian people in regard to oil : — Future prospecting and drilling operations must be rigidly monopolised by the public sector . There must be no repetition of the Stanvac deal in regard to prospecting in West Bengal , a deal so shameful that its provisions are concealed even from the scrutiny of Parliament . — All future refineries must also be in the public sector , and the government should press for equity capital rights in the capital structure of the existing refineries . g
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