India to release 5 mn barrels Crude from its reserves to dampen prices

India has agreed to release 5 million barrels of crude oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves. Now the prices of petrol and diesel could see a further drop in the coming days. This release will happen in parallel and in consultation with other major global energy consumers including the USA, People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea. In an official statement, the petroleum ministry said that the crude oil release will take place in consultation with these countries, which are also major global energy consumers. India holds about 26.5 million barrels of oil in is reserves.

The decision has come amid reports that the US has urged these nations to release crude oil from their respective reserves in order to bring down global prices of the commodity. The United States will release 50 million barrels of crude from its strategic petroleum reserve to help cool oil prices, that will start hitting the market in mid- to late-December, the White House said on Tuesday.

“India strongly believes that the pricing of liquid hydrocarbons should be reasonable, responsible and be determined by market forces. India has repeatedly expressed concern at supply of oil being artificially adjusted below demand levels by oil producing countries, leading to rising prices and negative attendant consequences,” the petroleum ministry said. The request came after the US government was unable to persuade OPEC+ to pump more oil with major producers arguing the world was not short of crude, Reuters had reported.