ADVERTISEMENT

WEF India Economic Summit 2019: Crude Prices To Remain At $58-62 A Barrel This Year, Says HPCL’s Surana

The Saudi Aramco incident has passed, said HPCL’s MK Surana.

An oil drilling rig stands illuminated at night near Nizhnevartovsk, Russia. (Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg)
An oil drilling rig stands illuminated at night near Nizhnevartovsk, Russia. (Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg)

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. said crude prices are expected to remain between $58 and $62 a barrel this year as Saudi Arabia assured of restoring production capacity.

Oil prices surged as Saudi Arabia’s production was cut by half after explosive drones set the world’s biggest crude processing plant ablaze.

But “the Saudi Aramco incident has passed. Yesterday, crude prices were around $58 a barrel,” said Mukesh Kumar Surana, chairman and managing director at HPCL, in an interview with BloombergQuint on the sidelines of India Economic Forum 2019 in New Delhi on Thursday.

“Our government engaged with Saudi government and they quickly restored facilities,” he said. And even during this period, Saudi Arabia has met its commitment for supplies, Surana said, adding there’s no immediate trigger, going forward. “Middle East is calm, there is no aggression in U.S.-China talks and Saudi Aramco impact has subsided. So, I see crude prices between $58 and $62 a barrel.”

Crude prices have been falling since last week after Saudi Aramco assured of restoring its production capacity to the pre-attack levels and Saudi Arabia agreed to a partial ceasefire in Yemen. Petrol and diesel prices, too, fell in India for the first time in a month as global oil prices cooled off.

Watch the full interaction here: