Concerned over shooting global crude oil prices, which crossed $32 a barrel mark last week, India said on Wednesday that it would petition oil cartel OPEC to hike its production to check surge in oil prices.
"I will certainly ask OPEC to increase production (of crude oil) to bring prices in the lower half of the $22-$28 a barrel price band set by them," Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said on the sidelines of Petrotech 2003 exhibition in New Delhi.
Naik will meet new secretary general of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Abdulla Bin Hamad al-Attiyah in New Delhi on Thursday.
The OPEC secretary general, who is also the minister of energy and industry of Qatar, will arrive on Thursday to attend the Petrotech 2003 conference.
"We have friendly relations with Qatar and it would be supplying liquefied natural gas from next year," he said.
Naik said crude oil prices have jumped from $19 a barrel in February to over $32 per barrel this month, which had serious implications for developing economies like India.
"India being 70 per cent import dependent, we would certainly like to see the prices come closer to $22 a barrel, which is what a developing country like ours can afford," he said.