NEW DELHI: Crude prices in the international market fell for the second consecutive day on Thursday as weak demand for gasoline from the US. Brent Crude Future on October 5, 2023, was trading at $85.45 a barrel while the US WTI was trading at $84.38 a barrel at 8.11 pm IST. This is nearly 12% below its last week high of $97 a barrel. Oil price witnessed its biggest one-day drop of more than $5 on Wednesday in over a year. The decline is also attributed to the reports that Russia might soon lift its ban on diesel exports.
However, Russia and Saudi Arabia are continuing to maintain their voluntary oil production cuts. As per the OPEC+ ministerial panel, Saudi Arabia would continue with a voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of 2023, while Russia would keep a 300,000 bpd export curb until the end of December. Crude oil prices have been trading above $90 per barrel in recent weeks.
Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said rising crude oil prices could create organised chaos and devastation in several parts of the world. The minister, in an interview with a news channel at the ADIPEC oil and gas conference in Abu Dhabi, said the price of $100 a barrel is not in the interest of either the producing countries or the consumers.
The ministermet OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al-Ghais and urged him to use his office to imbue a sense of pragmatism, balance, and affordability in the oil markets. The minister said that the prices of around $80 per barrel or slightly less than that would be a convenient price range for countries. “If the price goes above $100, it is not going to be in the interest of either the producing country or anyone’s interest. You will have large, organised chaos,” he said in an interview to a news channel.