India is forming a group that brings together state-run and private refiners to seek better crude import deals, oil secretary Tarun Kapoor said on Tuesday, as the country grapples with soaring oil prices.
The world’s third largest oil importer and consumer, India depends on imports for about 85 per cent of its crude and buys most of it from West Asian producers.
Initially the group of refiners will meet once in a fortnight and exchange ideas on crude purchases.
“The companies can form joint strategies and they can even go for joint negotiations wherever possible,” Kapoor, the top bureaucrat in the petroleum ministry, told Reuters. Indian state refiners already jointly negotiate some crude oil purchases.
