West Asian countries are now contemplating discounts for Asian countries purchasing crude oil from them, according to Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan.

These countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman — come under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a political and economic alliance.

Delivering a special address on the Modi government’s oil diplomacy at an event organised by the Foundation for Public Awareness and Policy, he said: “The GCC countries charged a premium for crude oil purchases by Asian consumers. This was despite almost 60 per cent of the total purchases from the GCC being made by the Asian countries of India, China, Japan and South Korea.”

“Now the situation has reversed after India’s intervention and we are moving towards an Asian discount instead of the Asian premium,” he added.

According to Pradhan, a reason for the reversal of the situation is that producing nations are now convinced that India’s market size will ensure a long-term market for crude oil.

BS-VI grade fuel

Highlighting the way forward for domestic oil refiners, Pradhan said: “We have started to produce BS-VI grade fuel in the country and we will be supplying these to the neighbouring countries of Nepal and Sri Lanka. It will not be possible for these smaller countries to produce such high grades of fuel and now India is also looking to add East Africa as a destination for product exports.”

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