In the year 2021, as the direction of corona vaccinations increased, economic activities started intensifying, due to which the demand for petroleum started increasing. Amid the demand for petrol and diesel, the oil producing countries (OPEC +) decided not to increase production, due to which the rate of crude oil started going up and it has reached $ 70 per barrel. Due to this, petrol is being sold for 100 rupees and diesel 95 rupees liter in many cities of our country.
To curb the price, the Indian government is constantly negotiating with the OPEC countries and they are being appealed to speed up production. India is the world’s third largest importer and consumer of oil. He imports 80 per cent of his requirement of oil. Therefore, the rise in the price of crude oil has a great effect here. If the request is not made, then the Modi government has started looking at a new option for itself. According to the report of the news agency Reuters, the state refinery has decided to reduce the import of oil from Saudi Arabia. It is believed that by May, oil imports from Saudi Arabia will be reduced by a quarter.
India wants to reduce dependence on Middle East
Sources said that the government now wants to reduce its dependence on Middle East countries. India’s refinery capacity is 5 million barrels per day. Of this, 60 percent control is with the state refinery. These state-run oil companies import about 14.8 million barrels of oil a month from Saudi Arabia. The idea is to bring it down to 10.8 million barrels in the month of May. OPEC + countries have decided the highest production cut in April.
America becomes second-largest exporter
According to another Reuters report, India has now increased oil imports from the US, leaving America behind Saudi Arabia to become the second largest oil exporter for India. In the month of February, oil exports from the US to India increased by 48 percent. The US is now exporting 5.45 lakh barrels of oil to India on a daily basis. This was 14 percent of India’s total imports.
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