Crude pricing: Politically-motivated tinkering of oil could prove costlier

For India, the world's third-largest consumer of oil after the US and China and one of the fastest-growing markets, rising crude prices is a worry.

Oil prices on Thursday extended gains, pushed up by a weak dollar and by comments from Saudi Arabia that it would rather see an undersupplied market than end a deal with OPEC and Russia to withhold production. Prices rose on the back of ongoing weakness in the US-dollar against other leading currencies, further supported by rising stock markets. This author discusses the implications of rising oil prices and what it means for India

Benchmark sweet crude prices were dragged down by 6-7% this week compared with their four-year peak in January amid a global financial markets turmoil that began