Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday said that India’s crude oil imports from Russia is miniscule at just 0.2% of the country’s overall requirement, PTI reported.
In response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Puri said there were no fears of supply shortage of crude oil due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“We require a total of five million [50 lakh] barrels [of crude oil] per day...60% of it comes from [the] Gulf [West Asian countries],” he said. “We have imported from Russia, just 0.419 million metric tonnes [till January]. That is 0.2% of total requirement.”
Puri also said that the ministry was monitoring the situation in Russia. “No adverse impact on hydrocarbon energy agreements [with Russia] is currently foreseen,” the minister told the House in a written reply, PTI reported.
India’s major oil import sources
India majorly imports crude oil from countries such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and the United Staes. As per Puri’s reply, in the financial year 2020-’21, India imported 85% of its crude oil requirements and 54% of its natural gas requirements.
Of this, he said that 14 million metric tonnes of the imports were from the US.
“In the current fiscal year [2021-’22], the crude oil imports from the US are likely to grow to 16.8 million metric tonnes,” Puri said. “There is a robust relationship [between India and the US] and I see it continue for some time,” Puri was quoted as saying, PTI reported.
Many Western nations are looking for ways to reduce their reliability on Russian oil and gas, since the Russian troops invaded Ukraine in February, The Economic Times reported. On being asked about the exit of certain Western companies from Russia, Puri said that he was in discussion with these oil firms.
“The facts on the ground vary,” he said. “Some have indicated intent to exit. The others say that they will not make fresh investments.”
Last week, Puri had said that the government was holding conversations “at the appropriate level” to purchase Russian crude oil as its prices tumbled to their lowest due to sanctions imposed by western countries.
The United States had said that if India were to purchase discounted Russian oil, it would put “the world’s largest democracy on the wrong side of history”.
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