NEW DELHI: India would now be saving around USD 65-70 billion on oil imports due to fall in oil prices, said Fatih Birol, chief economist & director of global energy economics at International Energy Agency (IEA).
Fatih Birol believes that lower oil prices is good news for India because in the last 5 years before the prices dropped down, India paid about USD 125 billion to import oil every year.
However, now with lower prices at around USD 60 per barrel, this USD 125 billion would go down to the levels of USD 65-70 billion which in turn would mean saving of around USD 65-70 billion for the Indian economy and help its trade deficit, says Birol.
Talking about the geopolitical tensions in the Middle Eastern region, Birol says the problems seem to be of more structural nature and not one-off type. However, the region remains the most important oil producing one in the world, and will continue exporting oil to Asia, Africa and other countries of the world. So, oil security will be an important issue and according to him India seems to be moving in the right direction by making strong efforts to increase its oil stocks in case of emergency.
India currently has to invest about USD 100 billion each year and to mobilise this would be a challenge, says Birol.
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