High crude price adding significant inflationary pressure on India: Pradhan tells OPEC

• I reiterated my request of phasing-out production cuts and also emphasised that crude price range remain within reasonable band, said Pradhan
• The news comes a day after the share of Middle East crude oil in India's import basket fell to a 25-month low in May as Indian refiners opted to dial down imports from the region

New Delhi: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan held a high-level consultation meeting with OPEC Secretary General HE Dr Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo where he flagged concerns over the increasing crude oil prices and its impact on consumers as well as on smart economic recovery. He emphasised that high crude price is adding significant inflationary pressure on India. Both sides discussed recent oil market developments, trends in oil demand recoveries, economic growth forecasts and overcoming energy challenges among other issues of mutual interest, said an official statement released on Thursday.
 
"I reiterated my request of phasing-out production cuts and also emphasised that crude price range remain within reasonable band, which will be in the collective interests of both consumers and producers and will encourage a consumption-led recovery," said Pradhan in a tweet after the meeting.

Pradhan thanks OPEC for supporting India during COVID-19 2nd wave

Pradhan conveyed his deep appreciation to Dr Barkindo and to key OPEC partner countries—Saudi Arabia and the UAE — for their support to India during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially with supplies of medicines, ISO containers, LMO and vital petroleum products. He expressed happiness on OPEC's analysis which shows that India will be the fastest growing emerging market economy in 2021. "Happy to note that OPEC's analysis shows that India is going to be at the centre of incremental global energy demand growth. #OPEC has also highlighted that India will be the fastest growing emerging market economy in 2021," said Pradhan on Twitter.

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India has been expanding technical cooperation, exchange of experts and other collaborations with OPEC since the first High-Level OPEC-India Energy.

The backdrop

The news comes a day after the share of Middle East crude oil in India's import basket fell to a 25-month low in May as Indian refiners opted to dial down imports from the region. The share of Middle East dropped to 52.7 percent in May, down from 67.9 percent in April, and was the lowest on record since April 2019. The dip in Middle East's share in India's crude oil imports comes after the government asked refiners in March to diversify crude oil sources. The direction was issued after OPEC and its allies, led by top exporter Saudi Arabia, ignored India's calls to ease supply curbs to cool off global crude oil prices.

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