India Wants Crude Prices Around $80/b: Minister

Oil prices need to recede to around $80/b to be good for consumers, according to India’s Oil Minister, Hardeep Puri.

• “It’s in the interest of all countries, including the producing countries and certainly the consuming countries, to have a healthy discussion on what constitutes a reasonable price band,” Puri said to Bloomberg TV.
• Puri added that India will continue to buy oil wherever it is cheapest. “We’ve said all along that we, that is our companies, both in the private sector and the public sector, will buy wherever they get the cheapest barrel,” he said.
• Around 88% of India’s oil demand comes from imports, according to Bloomberg. This makes it price sensitive.
• India has been acquiring larger volumes of discounted Russian barrels, which constituted 43% of total imports in September, according to Bloomberg. This compared to zero before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.