Saudi oil hawkishness speeds Indian plan to seek alternatives

India would prefer an oil price in the $50 to $60 a barrel range, says HPCL chairman Mukesh Kumar Surana

Saudi Arabia’s push to restrain oil supply to buoy prices is spurring India to speed up plans to diversify its crude sources and pursue alternative energy, the chairman of one of the nation’s biggest refiners said.

The world’s third-biggest oil importer was already trying to cut its dependence on Middle Eastern crude, with American oil rising from 0.5% of total purchases to 6% over the past five years, Mukesh Kumar Surana, chairman of state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp., said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Indian Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has repeatedly called for OPEC+ to pump more crude to stop prices from rising