Start reducing oil prices or expect demand to sink, India warns OPEC

The world’s fastest growing crude consumer has a warning for OPEC: Start reducing prices, or waning demand will mean a curb in purchases from the crude cartel.

At least that’s the suggestion from Sanjiv Singh, chairman of Indian Oil Corp., the country’s biggest refiner. If prices continue rising at the pace they’ve been gaining in the past month and a half, the South Asia nation’s consumers will likely see alternatives such as electric vehicles and gas as more cost-effective, replacing 1 million barrels of the country’s daily oil use by 2025, he said.

“Demand cannot be seen in isolation to