RPT-COLUMN-India and Saudi Arabia spar over oil prices: John Kemp | Reuters
Tensions this month between India and Saudi Arabia over rising oil prices have underscored the growing importance of the bilateral relationship and its potential to generate conflict as well as cooperation.
The decision by OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, at the start of this month to leave output unchanged despite a near doubling of oil prices since the start of November sparked an angry exchange of words.
“The decision by OPEC+ has saddened us. It is not good news for India, China, Japan, Korea and other consuming nations,” India’s minister for petroleum told Reuters earlier in March.
“We have asked companies to aggressively look for diversification. We cannot be held hostage to the arbitrary decision of Middle East producers,” an Indian government source said. (“India asks refiners to diversify, cut reliance on Middle East oil after OPEC+ decision”, Reuters, March 9)
In response, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said India should first use the stocks of crude it bought cheaply during the price slump in 2020.
No comments:
Post a Comment