Abu Dhabi:
India's decision to buy oil from Russia amid global uncertainties has helped avert a potential spike in global oil prices, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said in a recent interview with DailyExpertNews.
Speaking to DailyExpertNews's Becky Anderson on the sidelines of the annual energy industry event ADIPEC in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Union Minister Puri explained that if the Indian government had not bought Russian oil, global oil prices would have risen to $200 would have gone up.
Oil will remain an important part of the world's energy supply for years to come, he said.
Mr Puri told DailyExpertNews: “Earlier I said I hope oil prices will fall. Today I am more confident that they will.”
“If there is more energy available in the market in 2026, when I study the situation, I think there is a higher chance of prices remaining stable and falling,” Mr Puri said.
When asked why India reduced oil imports from Russia by about 10 percent in October, Mr. Puri explained that it was because of competitive oil rates in the market. “There are other people who want to supply at the same competitive rate because OPEC's position is that they are not concerned with price. There is healthy competition going on. If you don't get it from one, you will get it from someone otherwise.” he said.
Asked whether the reduction in Russian oil imports was a strategic decision, Mr Puri said: “These are oil decisions made in the market. When we got to February 22, there were suddenly 13 million barrels of Russian oil on the market if that oil had gone off the market and India had decided to shift its 5 million barrels to suppliers in the Gulf, for example, the oil price would have risen to 200 per barrel. So I think we did everyone a favor.”
He said technological changes such as green hydrogen and the transition to cleaner energy will change the global oil demand landscape within five years.
Mr. Puri also took to his barrel. never under any sanctions and there was only a price ceiling, which Indian entities also followed.”
India has done the whole world a favor by buying Russian oil because if we had not done so, global oil prices would have skyrocketed to $200/barrel. Russian oil was never sanctioned and there was only a price ceiling, which was also followed by Indian entities.
Let's not forget… pic.twitter.com/JZsvoFX74T
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) November 7, 2024
He also pointed out that some “ill-informed commentators” wanted to impose restrictions on India, while European and Asian countries had also made significant energy purchases from Russia.
“Let us not forget that while some ill-informed commentators were talking about imposing restrictions on India, many other European and Asian countries were buying far more crude oil, diesel, LNG and rare earth minerals worth billions of dollars from Russia. energy from whoever offers the best rates to our oil companies,” Mr Puri wrote.
The Union Minister in his That is our top priority. India is the only major consumer where fuel prices have fallen significantly over the past three years, despite unprecedented global price increases in other countries.”
India is the third largest oil consumer in the world, as estimated by the International Energy Agency.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)