India raises high fuel price issue to OPEC and producer nations

The Indian government has taken up the issue of high oil prices with producer nations and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), demanding affordable rates, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Rameswar Teli told the Lok Sabha. Petrol and diesel costs have shot up to record highs in India since early May, petrol after relentless cost increases. Petrol is selling over Rs 100 a liter in more than a dozen states. Teli told the media that the government has been taking up the high oil price issue, bilaterally with crude oil-producing countries as well as with the OPEC for affordable crude costs for consuming countries like India. He further added that the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas held meetings with the Secretary-General of OPEC to convey India's serious concerns over crude oil rate volatility, and India's strong preference for responsible pricing by producers and reasonable pricing for consumer countries. The issue of high oil rates has been flagged to Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar by the new oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri, in the last few days. OPEC and its partners reached a deal to raise oil production by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) every month for the rest of this year and into 2022. The pact finished two weeks of limbo for oil markets as OPEC leaders sought a solution to demands by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to increase its production baseline in return for supporting an expansion of the group's cooperation agreement. Sunday's agreement raises UAE, Saudi Arabia's, and Russia's production baseline. The agreement envisions continuing the monthly 400,000 bpd increments to around September 2022 ''subject to market conditions'', when members would theoretically reach baseline production. Image Source