India wields oil ‘weapon’ to cut dependence on Saudi

When India’s government last month asked refiners to speed up diversification and reduce dependence on the Middle East – days after OPEC+ said it would maintain production cuts – it sent a message about its clout and foreshadowed changes to the world’s energy maps.

It was a move that had been in the works for years, fuelled by repeated comments from Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who in 2015 called oil purchases a “weapon” for his country.