No crude oil at discount: Opec to India

NEW DELHI: Cartel of oil producing countries, Opec, on Wednesday rejected India''s plea for concessional crude oil pricing on the ground that it operated on market forces but admitted that current prices carried a war premium of $5-6 a barrel.
"We do not give discounts. We work with market price," Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) Secretary General Alvaro Silva said in an interview here.
He said Opec member countries extend bilateral financial assistance to developing countries but discounts were completely ruled out.
Silva said oil prices were on the lower side of the Opec band of $22-28 per barrel and "this is our contribution to improve the world economies."
While India has been seeking $22-23-a-barrel price, Opec basket of seven crudes has averaged around $26 a barrel in the first six months of current fiscal.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, world''s largest producer of oil and Opec member, said the current price levels were okay and did not warrant any cuts.
"I will say the current price levels are okay because they are within the Opec band," Saudi Oil Minister Ali said here.
Opec''s reference basket of seven crudes stood at $25.68 a barrel on Monday, almost at the mid-point of the cartel''s target band of $22 to 28 a barrel.
Silva said the US threat of military action against Iraq had added $5-6 per barrel as "war surcharge."