India Now Wants Oil Contracts For The 80,000 Covid-19 Vaccines Donated To Guyana, Was It A Donation? (VIDEO)

With the donation of 80,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines from the Indian government, Guyana’s government immunization campaign against the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is expected to get a major boost.

However, nothing in life is for free and the Indian government is expecting short-term oil contracts from the government of Guyana in return for the vaccines given.

The Indian government is looking to diversify its crude oil import strategy in the face of rising crude oil prices, which are affecting the prices of gasoline and diesel. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in India had begun talks with Guyana and Mexico about short-term oil contracts, which will help the Indian economy to offset the high-priced long-term contracts that were previously in place. These talks came amid India’s purported donation of vaccines to the Guyana government with expected kickbacks in oil contracts.

India is 86% dependent on crude import and the Indian crude basket is a little above $61 per barrel. Brent prices have soared to $70 per barrel and it constitutes almost 75% of the Indian crude basket. The Indian crude was priced at $20 per barrel in April 2020 when the demand was at its lowest low due to coronavirus-led lockdown. The central and state governments increased taxes on petroleum products like petrol and diesel which is now hurting consumers with an increase in crude prices.