OPEC should treat Asian countries as primary markets, says India

OPEC should treat Asian customers as primary markets and work towards a “responsible price” for major oil consumers, Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at a conference in Vienna on Monday.

“OPEC should treat Asian markets as primary markets. Its strategy of incentivising Western markets in the past did not result in retaining those markets,” Pradhan said at the India-OPEC Energy Dialogue, according to an official statement by the Indian Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. 

“Don’t subsidize others at our expense. I urge the OPEC and through you also to non-OPEC countries to purposefully consider this,” the minister said, noting that Asian premiums, or higher prices paid for oil by Asian customers, remain a problem.

“The issue of Asian premium still continues to exist. Our companies pay billions of dollars on this account,” Pradhan said.

India, the world’s third largest oil consumer, imports about 86 percent of its crude oil and 70 percent of its natural gas needs from OPEC nations.

The country has an annual refining capacity of 235 million metric tonnes (MMT), and plans to increase this to around 310 MMT by 2023, as part of plans to become a global refinery hub.

During his speech, the Indian minister called on OPEC to work towards a “responsible price,” particularly for major oil consumers.

“Higher prices would force them to go for alternate forms of energy which would [slow] down the demand of crude oil.”

Write to Jerusha Sequeira at jerusha.s@argaamnews.com