NEW DELHI, June 15 (Xinhua) -- India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met the ambassadors from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to India on Friday over rising crude oil prices, said a senior official.
The meeting assumed significance as the oil prices in India reached the highest in the past four years.
According to the senior official, during the meeting Pradhan expressed his concern about rising crude oil prices and its negative impact on consumers across the world, particularly in India.
He emphasized on the fact that globally crude prices had gone beyond the threshold which could be sustained by the world, and highlighted that market fundamentals do not support such high prices.
The Indian minister urged the OPEC envoys to convey the message to their respective governments regarding the need to move to responsible pricing, one that balances the interests of both the producer and consumer.
An official statement issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said that the minister reiterated the issue of discriminatory pricing through measures such as Asian Premium, and also called for transparent and flexible markets for both oil and gas.
India has a strong engagement with the OPEC. During the last financial year the block accounted for about 83 percent of India's total crude oil imports, 98 percent of its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports and 74 percent of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
