Dharmendra Pradhan, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister
of India, says that he is in talks with major oil-producing nations in order to
bring down the crude oil price that has hit hard both the consumers and
industrialists.
Mr Pradhan said this in the wake of criticism in
certain sectors in India about levying taxes on fuel; although India is not the
only country to do so, its taxes on fuel stand at a staggering 69%; it has
inevitable led to a considerable hike in price.
Opposition parties in India, meanwhile, want
government to cut down the excise duty on fuel; the government, however, shows
no sign of heeding the call.
The minister defended the move, citing India’s need
of resources in reviving the economy, especially after the pandemic caused by
the Coronavirus.
In another development, Saudi Arabia lost its
position as the second biggest supplier of crude oil to India with a loss of 42%
of supply in February; it’s the fourth biggest supplier at present, with Iraq
being the top crude oil supplier.
The United States, the world’s largest exporter of
the crude oil, meanwhile, has become India’s second biggest supplier with a 48%
increase in February.
With the new administration at the White House, the US-Saudi relations have become rather frosty. The import of crude oil figures do not make pleasant reading for Saudi Arabia and in this context, it may not be ignore Indian concerns about the level of price at present, completely out of hand, as it did after the March 4.
