New Delhi (Sputnik) – Brimming with confidence after the recent informal summit between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi Jinping, India and China are discussing ways to form an oil buyers club with China, Japan and South Korea.
"With oil producers' cartel OPEC playing havoc with prices, India discussed with China the possibility of forming an ‘oil buyers club' that can negotiate better terms with sellers as well as getting more US crude oil to cut dominance of the oil block," India's Petroleum Ministry tweeted.
The idea of forming an oil bloc to counter OPEC's hegemony was mooted by Indian Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan during the International Energy Forum meeting in April in New Delhi.
"The timing is right. There is a boom in US oil and gas production which will give greater leverage against OPEC which will definitely cut their monopoly," Sanjay Puri, president of Washington based US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) told Sputnik.
At present, India and China together account for almost 17 percent of world oil consumption. Projections are that both the countries are likely to account for more than 50% of future oil demand growth.