Washington: It’s the sovereign right of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to decide on the oil production capacities, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said Friday.
Refraining from commenting on the controversial decision of OPEC on cutting oil production by two million barrels a day, which has taken the world by surprise, Puri said it is likely to be scrutinized very carefully.
During an interaction with a group of Indian reporters, he said that India as one of the major consumers of oil and gas also has a major say in the global oil market.
“India is not a part of OPEC. India is at the receiving end of OPEC decisions…, he said in response to a question.
I have always traditionally taken the view, it is their sovereign right to decide what they wish to do, how much oil they want to produce and how much they want to put into the market, Puri said when asked about the decision of OPEC countries to cut oil production.
But I always say that all of this is subject to the doctrine of consequences intended and unintended, he said.
That’s why I’m deliberately exercising not just calm, but also restraint in commenting on what has happened, because I’m told that there were assurances given, don’t ask me whom, etc., that in fact they were not planning to do this, Puri said.
In our interaction with the oil price producers in the grouping that you call OPEC, or OPEC, plus, our understanding, my understanding, based on what we were told last year that this was a temporary adjustment and what you would see is that by February the amount of crude which is released into the market would be sufficient to cater to the increasing demand, Puri said.
Obviously from March 2020, when the global economy was in a virtual lockdown state there has been a calibrated opening. But now most of the economies are slowly firing on all cylinders, and therefore there’s an increase in demand, he said.
—PTI

Press Trust of India