A Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) notification said on Tuesday that the government would allow crude oil imports ``without any import licence'' for actual users like ``private and joint sector oil refineries.'' The notification specifies that ``the crude oil so imported (by oil companies) shall have to be utilised within their own refineries'' and hence, prohibits free sale of crude.

The relaxation of import curbs is in keeping with the time-table for the phased deregulation of crude and petroleum products. Crude imports are not scheduled to be deregulated till the year 2002, but during the current fiscal, the ``sourcing of crude'' was to be liberalised.