India will buy oil from wherever it wants, no one has told us not to buy from Russia: Petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri

Oil price rise in India is way below global price hikes, said Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, asserting that no country has told India to stop buying oil from Russia.

India has been under pressure from the US-led West to cut its energy buys from Russia. It has stepped up its purchases, instead, to take advantage of the heavy discounts offered by Moscow.

Oil price rise in India is way below global price hikes, said Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, asserting that no country has told India to stop buying oil from Russia.

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, Puri said on Friday.

Puri, who also holds the portfolio of Housing and Urban Development, arrived in Washington DC on Thursday and held a wide of range of meetings with his counterpart in the Biden cabinet, Jennifer Granholm -- their first in-person meeting -- and other officials such as the US special envoy on Energy Amos Hochstein. He is scheduled to meet energy business leaders in Houston, where he is reaching on Saturday.

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India has been under pressure from the US-led West to cut its energy buys from Russia. It has stepped up its purchases, instead, to take advantage of the heavy discounts offered by Moscow.

On OPEC cuts, the Minister sounded circumspect, saying he would wait before offering any assessment of the impact on India. He was also cautious as the OPEC+ group included countries that are India`s top suppliers such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.

Oil price rise in India is way below global price hikes: Hardeep Singh Puri

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But he did offer criticism in a general sense. "I think everybody has to realise that the producer has the sovereign right to decide how much quantity they want to release. They say that doesn`t affect the price. It is their judgment. I would respectfully submit that I have a different view. If you release quantities which are much shorter it will result in you know driving up prices which in turn exacerbates the inflationary situation and which will make the result in deepening the recessionary condition and make no mistake large parts of Europe today," he said.

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.

It has pushed up energy prices for many consumers and businesses around the world, hurting households, industries and entire economies of several nations.

India's crude oil imports from Russia have jumped over 50 times since April and now it makes up for 10 per cent of all crude bought from overseas. Russian oil made up for just 0.2 per cent of all oil imported by India prior to the Ukraine war.

The Western countries are gradually bringing down their energy purchases from Russia following its attack on Ukraine.

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, Puri told a group of Indian reporters here, adding that the government has a moral duty to provide energy to its people.

Responding to a question, he 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, Puri said after his bilateral meeting with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

During his meeting Puri "broached the idea" of India-US Green Corridor, which elicited a positive response from his US counterpart.

The turbulence in the energy markets, and I'm using the word turbulence support carefully, will not allow India's resolve to transition to green clean and sustainable energy, he said.

The two countries would now look into broader contours of this ambitious Green Energy Corridor.

India's import from the US is shooting up and currently buying USD20 billion worth of energy from the United States. There are discussions on buying more from the United States, he said.

While work on green energy would continue, traditional exploration, and production of oil and gas would continue as well, he noted.

The world is also in progress on green hydrogen. India and the US have an advantage which at present is not being realised, he added.

On the 2-million barrel a day production cut announced by OPEC+ countries (which include most of India`s top sellers), the Minister on Friday added that he would wait for effective the cut to assess the impact on India; the real reduction is by 900,000 barrels a day, according to oil analysts. But he said generally, global supply falling short of demand would fuel recession.

With Agencies' Inputs

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