India Helped Global Markets By Buying Discounted Oil From Wherever Possible: Hardeep Puri
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Puri said Russian oil was never subject to global sanctions, and it was only placed under a price cap
Silencing critics who have questioned India's crude oil imports from Russia after the country started a war with Ukraine, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Puri on Thursday said our continued purchase of crude oil helped stabilise global markets.
As a result of the war, the United States and western nations imposed restrictions on Russia but India has continued to purchase Russian oil.
Puri said Russian oil was never subject to global sanctions, and it was only placed under a price cap. 'Russian oil was never under global sanctions. Sensible decision makers around the world were aware of the realities of global oil supply chains and how India was only helping the global markets by buying discounted oil under a price cap from wherever we could," he said.
Russia is one of the largest crude producers with over 9 million barrels/day. Imagine the chaos if this oil, amounting to about 10% of the global oil supply of around 97 million, vanished from the market. It would have forced the world to reduce its consumption, and since the… pic.twitter.com/7CVz0hQphA — Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) July 10, 2025
Puri said halting oil trade from Russia would have spiralled crude prices to over USD 120 to 130 per barrel. He explained that Russia produces more than 9 million barrels per day and is one of the world's largest crude oil producers.
He said if, out of global oil supplies of around 97 million barrels, 9 million barrels had suddenly vanished, the world would have had to reduce consumption by over 10 percent, which is impossible. This chaos would have led to global oil prices spiralling, as all consumers would have been competing for the reduced supplies.
'Imagine the chaos if this oil, amounting to about 10 percent of the global oil supply of around 97 million, vanished from the market," he said at a media interaction during his visit to Vienna. 'It would have forced the world to reduce its consumption, and since the consumers would be chasing the reduced supplies, the prices would've spiralled to over USD 120-130."
The Union minister said some commentators, who lack an understanding of the dynamics of energy markets, pass unnecessary judgments on our policies.
'India, under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, has been a net positive contributor to global energy price stability, while at the same time we successfully navigated the trilemma of energy availability, affordability and sustainability," he said.
He further said India continues to provide clean cooking gas to its 330 million households at the lowest prices in the world.
'We provide universal clean cooking to more than 103 million beneficiary families of the PM Ujjwala Scheme at just 0.4 dollars/kg or just 7-8 cents/day," he added.
India is the world's third-largest energy consumer with a demand of about 5.4 million barrels of oil per day. It imports 80 percent of its oil and 50 percent of its natural gas.
(With ANI inputs)
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First Published:
July 10, 2025, 23:25 IST
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