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India pitches for further easing of oil production cuts by OPEC+
OPEC+, which includes the 10 additional oil exporting countries led by Russia, agreed on Thursday to gradually ease oil output cuts from May in response to the US administration’s call for ensuring that energy remains affordable for consumers.
India on Friday pushed for further easing of oil production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and 10 more countries, saying high crude prices were affecting consumption-led recovery around the world.
OPEC+, which includes the 10 additional oil exporting countries led by Russia, agreed on Thursday to gradually ease oil output cuts from May in response to the US administration’s call for ensuring that energy remains affordable for consumers.
The group, which comprises 13 major crude producers such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran, put in place deep cuts after oil prices collapsed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis. The group has now agreed to ease production curbs by 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May, 350,000 bpd in June and around 400,000 bpd in July.
“We have noted that OPEC and OPEC+ have announced a slight easing of crude production cuts, even though it is still far below the originally announced schedule of cuts,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a regular news briefing.
India, he said, has been appealing to the crude oil producing countries since the beginning of this year to ease crude oil production cuts announced last year because “high crude prices hurt the consumption-led recovery of several countries, including India”, he said.
“Crude supply should be market determined rather than artificially managed. Our ministry of petroleum and natural gas is reviewing closely the global crude supplies and price situation,” Bagchi added.
In addition to rising crude prices, India has been hit by the stopping of oil imports from Iran because of US sanctions imposed by the previous Donald Trump administration.
In recent weeks, India has mulled the possibility of organising diplomatic efforts by oil-consuming countries against OPEC+ as producers have kept crude prices artificially high by restricting supply. India has also begun looking at the possibility of resuming imports of cheaper energy from Iran and Venezuela to counter the oil cartel.
The restriction of supplies by OPEC+ has become a major concern for New Delhi as it tries to boost economic recovery in the post-pandemic period. India is the third largest oil consumer in the world, after the US and China.
