Tensions in West Asia may push up costs for oil refiners
President Donald Trump’s rhetoric is worrying Indian oil marketing companies.
Trump’s tweet reacting to Iranian threats of reprisal—“If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before!”—has forced Indian oil marketing companies to take a closer look at their costs.
Officials from oil companies fear that the cost of operation at refineries will go up if crude prices breach the $70 per barrel mark, as is expected by markets.
Crude oil prices closed more than 4% higher on Friday than the previous close, the highest since September, after a US drone strike killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, fuelling concerns that escalating US-Iran conflict may disrupt oil supplies.
