Page 8 - MEOG Week 15 2021

MEOG POLICY MEOG

India, Saudi oil price spat deepens

SAUDI ARABIA INDIA’S spat with Saudi Arabia over oil prices said: “We’ve always believed that crude supply
is showing little sign of slowing down, despite should be market determined rather than arti-
the kingdom’s recent support for an easing of ficially managed.”
OPEC+ production curbs. India’s state-run Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural
refiners will buy 36% less oil from the Middle Gas Dharmendra Pradhan has been an out-
Eastern producer than is typical, Reuters quoted spoken critic of OPEC+ this year, complain-
three unnamed sources as saying on April 6. ing that the organisation has failed to deliver
The newswire’s sources said Indian Oil Corp. much-needed oil price stability at a time when
(IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd the global economy is trying to find its feet. He
(BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has repeatedly warned that India will diversify
(HPCL) and Mangalore Refinery and Petro- its imports as well as speed up its adoption of
chemicals Ltd (MRPL) had lowered their May alternative energy supplies if production cuts
order of Saudi crude from a planned 10.8mn are not eased. Indeed, the official said on March
barrels to 9.5mn barrels. These levels are far 26 that India’s energy purchases would be driven
short of the 14.8mn barrels that the four typically by commercial interests rather not bilateral
buy from Saudi each month. The move comes relations.
despite Riyadh’s support last week for OPEC+ to “India will keep its interest in mind in decid-
ease production curbs, which India blames for ing on its strategic and economic decisions,” he
driving up international oil prices and thereby told an industry event. “We are a consuming
hurting its economic recovery. nation and we will have to import energy for
OPEC and its partners opted at their April 1 a long time. So whosoever gives up cheap, and
meeting to ease output cuts by 1.1mn barrels per easy, [oil] we will buy from them.”
day over the course of the next three months. The Interestingly, while Pradhan and Saudi Oil
group will up production by 350,000 bpd in May, Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman engaged
then by another 350,000 bpd in June and finally in talks on April 4, which one Reuters source
by 400,000 bpd in July. Saudi, meanwhile, has characterised as “positive”, Saudi Aramco opted
pledged to phase out its own 1mn bpd cut by July. the next day to raise the official selling price
The Indian government, however, remains (OSP) for crude shipments to Asia while cutting
unimpressed with the effort. Indian Ministry of those for European and North American mar-
Foreign Affairs spokesman Arindam Bagchi said kets. “We were surprised when they announced
on April 1 that the relaxed production curbs still cuts for other markets while raising OSPs for
fell short of his government’s expectations. He Asia,” one of Reuters’ Indian sources said.™

Israel appears to confirm Iran cyber attack

ISRAEL/IRAN ISRAEL on April 12 indicated that it stepped up central role. In recent months, Iran and Israel are
its shadow war againt Iran and its nuclear devel- thought to have stepped up attacks against each
opment programme with a cyber-attack on the other’s shipping. Israel has, meanwhile, contin-
main Iranian nuclear facility, Natanz. ued with hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian
The apparent attack, which, said Iran’s proxies in Syria, while last November Israel
Atomic Energy Agency, caused a large-scale is thought to have used a remote-controlled
blackout and damaged the electricity grid at the weapon to assassinate Iran’s leading nuclear sci-
nuclear reactor site, took place not long after offi- entist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was shot dead
cials restarted spinning advanced centrifuges at on a rural highway.
Natanz that could accelerate the production of Also, last July, an explosion damaged a centri-
enriched uranium. Iran built up the event as a fuge assembly plant at Natanz, while a combined
milestone in its nuclear programme. CIA/Mossad cyber-attack using a computer
As Iran decried what it describe as a “terror- virus called Stuxnex in 2010 caused widespread
ist attack”, Israeli defence chief, Aviv Kochavi, disruption that delayed Iran’s nuclear pro-
remarked that his country’s “operations in the gramme for several years.
Middle East are not hidden from the eyes of the Israel is opposed to US President Joe Biden’s
enemy”. The Guardian noted that Israel imposed ongoing attempts to reach a deal with Iran to
no censorship restrictions on coverage of the revive the 2015 nuclear agreement that shields
attack as it had often done after similar previous Tehran from sanctions in return for Iran com-
incidents and the apparent attack was widely plying with stipulations limiting its nuclear pro-
covered by Israeli media. Public radio, mean- gramme to civilian purposes. Tel Aviv says the
while, took the unusual step of claiming that deal is not tight enough to prevent Iran pursuing
the Mossad intelligence agency had played a a nuclear warhead.™

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