NEW DELHI: 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, fueled by repeated comments from Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who in 2015 called oil purchases a “weapon” for his country.
When the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries and Major Producers (OPEC+) extended the production cuts into April, India unsheathed that weapon. Indian refiners plan to cut imports from the Kingdom by about a quarter in May, sources told Reuters, dropping them to 10.8 million barrels from monthly average of 14.7-14.8 million barrels.
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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - 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.
India s Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan speaks at a road show organised by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH) in Mumbai, India, October 26, 2017. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/File Photo
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.
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 Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who in 2015 called oil purchases a weapon for his country. When the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries and Major Producers (OPEC+) extended the production cuts into April, India unsheathed that weapon. Indian refiners plan to cut imports from the Kingdom by about a quarter in May, sources told Reuters, dropping them to 10.8 million barrels from monthly average of 14.7-14.8 million barrels.
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.