Back in April last year it had been announced that India, the world’s third largest consumer of oil, had engaged the Government of Guyana in pursuit of its interest in a long-term deal to acquire oil from Guyana. That news came following the Indian government’s purchase of the first ever shipment of oil sold from offshore recovery here.
India’s expression of interest in an extended agreement for it to become Guyana’s first major long-term market had come in the wake of the wider circumstance of a falling out between New Delhi and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) over the cartel’s decision to further expand production cuts, significantly lifting the price of oil, and sending jitters around many of the world’s major oil-importing countries, including India, a country on the ‘top shelf’ of the world’s major oil consumers.