New Delhi: Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Friday said that the Indian government has a moral duty to provide energy to its citizens and it will continue to buy oil from wherever it has to, asserting that no country has told India to stop buying oil from Russia.
Puri in the US said, “India will buy oil from wherever it has to for the simple reason that this kind of a discussion cannot be taken to the consuming population of India.”
However, India’s crude oil imports from Russia have jumped over 50 times since April and now it makes up for 10 percent of all crude bought from overseas. Russian oil made up just 0.2 percent of all oil imported by India before the Ukraine war.
Puri after his bilateral meeting with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said, If you are clear about your policy, which means you believe in energy security and energy affordability, you will buy from wherever you have to purchase energy from sources.
Commenting on the decision of OPEC+ (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) to cut oil production by two million barrels a day, Puri said India will be able to navigate the situation. “At the end of the day, the amount of energy that is released by producers and suppliers matches the demand that there is in the market and there is an equilibrium, you will have market forces playing out. How much energy you release will have an impact on price levels.”
“India is not a part of OPEC. India is at the receiving end of OPEC decisions…, he said in response to a question.
The Russia-Ukraine war has had a massive impact on the global energy system, disrupting supply and demand patterns and pushing up prices across the world, and Western countries are gradually bringing down their energy purchases from Russia.
(Vinayak)
