New Delhi : With oil cartel OPEC cutting production for the first time since 2008 leading to a surge in oil prices, India on Monday said higher rates will risk the country’s growth trajectory and pitched for striking a balance between interests of producers and consumers.
Benchmark Brent oil has rallied to $54.56 a barrel, the biggest weekly gain since 2009, after OPEC approved its first supply cut in eight years. “Last week the OPEC countries pledged to reduce their production by 1.2 million barrels a day. Non-OPEC countries also agreed to a production cut to the tune of 0.6 million barrel per day. The proposed cut caused a surge in oil prices to above $ 50 a barrel and speculation is rife that it might go up even further,” Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at the Petrotech 2016 conference here. India has used the slump in oil prices since 2014-15 to not just cut petrol and diesel rates to cool inflation but also as an opportunity to shore up revenues by raising duties., reports PTI.
The country’s basket of crude oil imports had averaged $ 105.52 per barrel in 2013-14 which dipped to $ 84.16 in the following year, and to $ 46.17 a barrel in 2015-16. This fiscal, it has averaged USD 44.81 per barrel so far. “I want to submit before this august gathering that for the sustainability of the oil markets, we must strike a balance of interest between producers and consumers,” he said.
Recalling his statement before the OPEC forum in June last year, he said consumption of petroleum products is price sensitive as there is a genuine issue of affordability for a sizable population in India and other developing countries.
