NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India said on Friday that oil producing countries cannot hold consumers to ransom, underlining the nation’s growing frustration with OPEC+ for not raising production to cool prices.
India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, imports about 85% of its oil needs and has been hit hard by rising oil prices. Oil prices eased on Friday, however, on concerns about a new COVID-19 variant detected in South Africa. [O/R]
“The producing countries cannot hold the consuming countries to ransom for a variety of reasons. We will make transition and we will do our production and in the short-term we will also deal with it may be by re-orienting our own priorities,” India’s oil minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, said at an industry awards event.
