India pledges to secure fuel supply amid Middle East turmoil
NEW DELHI, June 22 (Reuters) - India will take measures to safeguard domestic fuel supplies amid rising tensions in the Middle East following U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran's nuclear sites, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Sunday.
India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, has diversified its crude import sources over the last few years, reducing its dependence on the Strait of Hormuz. It gets less than half of its average 4.8 million barrels per day of oil imports from the Middle East.
"We have been closely monitoring the evolving geopolitical situation in the Middle East since the past two weeks... we have diversified our supplies in the past few years and a large volume of our supplies do not come through the Strait of Hormuz now," Puri said on social media platform X.
Investors and energy markets have been on high alert since Israel launched airstrikes across Iran on June 13, fearing disruption to oil and gas flows out of the Middle East, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has long used the threat of closing the Strait, through which around 20% of global oil and gas demand flows, as a way to ward off Western pressure which is now at its peak after Washington carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.
"Our Oil Marketing Companies have supplies of several weeks and continue to receive energy supplies from several routes. We will take all necessary steps to ensure stability of supplies of fuel to our citizens," Puri said.
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