NEW DELHI: Oil prices slipped below their seven-year highs of $80 a barrel on Thursday after reports from Washington said the US has sought a co-ordinated release of strategic crude reserves by India, China, Japan and South Korea with a view to taming prices, a move New Delhi said was futile as it would have little impact.
“Strategic
oil reserves weren’t ever intended for a situation like this… It’s for a force majeure situation, if there’s an earthquake, a global outbreak of hostilities, and oil supplies are shut,” oil minister
Hardeep Singh Puri told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday when the news broke.