Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday, January 3, brushed aside media reports on Russian oil tankers turning back supplies due to payment issues.
"There is no payment problem; it’s a pure function of the price at which our refiners will buy," Puri said.
Elaborating on the government's stance, the minister said, “India will buy from whoever has oil. The leadership’s priority is that Indian consumers must get the energy at the most economical price."
Puri's statement probably indicates the quantum of discounts offered by Russia may have come down or that India is finding new sellers willing to supply cheap crude oil.
For instance, the Minister has been indicating that if Venezuelan oil comes to the market, we will welcome it.
It is probably due to this pricing issue that India’s oil imports from Russia have also come down.
At one point in time, as much as 33%–40% of India’s daily crude oil requirement was being met from Russian imports, which is currently down to 28%–29%.
However, the minister said this is not a sharp drop at all given that in February 2022, crude oil imports from Russia were 0.2% of India’s daily consumption.
Even today, out of India’s 5 million barrels per day of consumption, Russian imports constitute 1.38–1.40 million barrels a day.
Meanwhile, elaborating on the current scenario after the Red Sea attacks, Puri said, "We are in a highly turbulent situation where 12% of the global shipping trade emanates. In 2023, 4–8% of global LNG cargoes came from the Suez Canal, and Red Sea routes, while 8.2 million barrels of crude oil per day come through these routes."
Some of the bigger shipping companies have decided to come through the Cape of Good Hope, which means more mileage, but it is a balancing act as they no longer have to pay the Suez Canal Transit Fees, Puri said.
(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav)
First Published: Jan 3, 2024 6:10 PM IST
