By IANS,
New Delhi : High international crude oil prices benefit neither the importing countries nor producing nations, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said Wednesday and called for steps to ensure stability in all aspects of oil trade.
Referring to the three-fold jump in prices of oil since 2000, Deora told the 2nd ministerial conference of Asian oil producing and importing countries in Riyadh that such instability would adversely impact all of them in the long run.
He strongly supported the idea of greater inter-dependence among producers and consumers, supplemented by cross-border investments by the two sides in the energy markets to realise the larger goal of energy security.
“High oil prices lead to fall in demand by encouraging conservation and technological innovations, and make alternative investments for energy attractive,” the minister was quoted as saying in an official release.
High prices also put a major strain on the resources of oil importing developing countries, he told the conference, the first edition of which was held in New Delhi in 2005 at India’s initiative.
On the margins of the conference, Deora met his Iranian counterpart Seyed Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh and Pakistan Petroleum Minister Amanullah Khan Jadoon to discuss energy ties, including the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India Gas pipeline project.
The Indian oil minister had visited Tehran recently where he had discussed with his Iranian counterpart both the gas pipeline project, as also the proposal to buy five million tonnes of additional gas from Iran.
At Riyadh, Deora also met with Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Engineer Ali Al Naimi and took the opportunity to discuss the strong bilateral relations between the two countries. Saudi Arabia is the largest supplier of crude oil to India.