India, IEA to fight oil price volatility

India will join hands with Paris-based International Energy Agency to counter artificial price volatility in the international oil market and create buffers for supply disruptions.

IEA will assist Asia's third largest crude oil importer in building 5 million tonnes of strategic crude oil storage as an insurance against supply disruptions and "coordinate" efforts with New Delhi during emergencies like high crude prices and supply disruptions.

This emerged out of the two day India-IEA joint workshop on emergency oil stock issues, in New Delhi.

A joint statement issued after the workshop said IEA and India will "act in consort" during emergencies and "regularly exchange information, including oil statistics, for enhancing market transparency and building a common view of the global oil market."

IEA, which was established after the oil-shocks of 1970s, has been an advocate for India and China pooling their stocks with that of IEA to deter oil producers from taking unilateral action on supply cuts.

The joint statement further identified the need "to establish a hotline for effective information sharing in case of an emergency and to update and consult, as appropriate, on the development of energy security measures."

Indo-IEA partnership will mitigate supply problems for a country that is 70 per cent import dependant to meet its 105 million tonnes of crude oil requirement. IEA estimates that India's import dependence will grow to 94 per cent by 2030.