NEW DELHI: Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday urged OPEC countries to provide India an ‘Asian Dividend rather than Asian Premium’.
Pradhan asked for a change in approach during a one-to-one meeting with the Secretary General of OPEC
Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo in Vienna, before co-chairing the 2nd India-OPEC Institutional Dialogue at the OPEC headquarters scheduled on May 25.
The minister reiterated that as a large import destination there should be no ‘Asian Premium’ on the crude supplied to India and Asian buyers. He also highlighted that India provided timely payments and honoured all its contractual commitments and demanded due acknowledgment through discount in prices for large volumes that India imports.
Pradahan further added that for a long time OPEC subsidised western buyers at the cost of Asian buyers.
He said that while the production cut (OPEC and non-OPEC countries) is an attempt to arrest the slide in prices, however, it also has an inherent chance of under investment and consumer’s needs not being met in the long run, which is not in the interest of a balanced and healthy global oil and gas market.
Pradhan is accompanied by Secretary Petroleum, and CEOs of seven large refiners of India, both from public and private sector including IOCL, HPCL, BPCL, MRPL, HMEL, Reliance and Essar.