New Delhi: India, the world’s third largest oil consumer, on Wednesday appealed to Saudi Arabia and other global oil producers to reduce the level of crude oil production cuts. India has said that the economic recovery and demand is being damaged due to the expensive oil in the international market. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that recovery in demand should be given priority over oil prices for the next few months. Since the announcement of Saudi Arabia’s voluntary reduction of 1 million barrels per day in February and March, the price of oil in the international market has been rising.
Saudi Arabia took this step under an agreement with the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied countries (OPEC Plus), including Russia. The price of oil has reached $ 63 per barrel, the highest level in a year. With this, the retail price in India has gone above 100 rupees a liter. Pradhan said at the 11th IEA IEF OPEC Symposium on the Energy Scenario that a sharp pre-demand drop in crude oil prices during the last few weeks is impacting the recovery of the fragile global economy. He said that India has controlled inflationary pressures on many fronts, but cannot do anything on the inflation caused by crude oil.
