Amid high oil prices, Saudi asks India to use cheap oil it bought last year

International oil prices rose after Opec and its allies ignored India’s plea to ease production control, with Saudi Arabia asking New Delhi to instead use oil it bought at rock bottom rates last year.

India’s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had in the run-up to Thursday’s Opec meeting urged the producers’ group to ease production curbs to fulfil their promise of stable oil prices. He felt rising international oil prices were hurting economic recovery and demand.

Responding to a question on India’s pleas, Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman at a press conference after the Opec+ decision on Thursday said New Delhi should take some of the crude out of storage that they had purchased at very cheap rates last year.