‘India Will Buy Oil From Wherever It Has To’: Union Minister Hardeep Puri On Russian Oil Imports

India will buy oil from wherever it has to as the moral duty of the government is to provide energy to its citizens, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

New Delhi: Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Puri said India will buy oil from wherever it has as the moral duty of the government is to provide energy to its citizens. “If you are clear about your policy, you will buy from wherever you have to. Our energy purchases from sources hitherto unheard of, we are in discussion with them. We will also acquire assets outside,”

Responding to a question, Hardeep Puri said India has not been told by anyone to stop buying oil from Russia. “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,” Hardeep Puri said after his bilateral meeting with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

The Russia-Ukraine war has had a far-reaching impact on the global energy system, disrupting supply and demand patterns and fracturing long-standing trading relationships. The Western countries are gradually bringing down their energy purchases from Russia following its attack on Ukraine.

The Russia-Ukraine war has pushed up energy prices for many consumers and businesses around the world, hurting households, industries and entire economies of several nations.

Hardeep Singh Puri also said that compared to fuel price hikes globally, India only raised prices by 2 per cent, which is way below that of other countries. “In terms of petrol and diesel, if the increases in North America are 43-46 per cent, in India we allow prices to go up by only 2 per cent or so. In terms of gas, global benchmarks went up by 260-280 per cent and our own ability to contain gas price increases was something around 70 per cent,” Puri said.

Puri held bilateral meeting with US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm and other top officials of the Biden Administration. The minister also highlighted India’s commitment to accelerating a just and sustainable energy transition at the ministerial dialogue on India-US strategic clean energy. During his visit, the union minister also held meetings with senior officials of the World Bank, the Presidential envoy for energy and infrastructure Amos Hochstein and senior representatives of the White House.

The Union Minister said that India was “very confident” of navigating the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus (OPEC+) decision to cut oil production from November by a steeper-than-expected two million barrels per day (bpd).

(With inputs from Agencies)