New Delhi [India], July 10 : Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Puri said India's continued purchase of crude oil from Russia helped stabilise energy prices globally, and halting oil trade from Russia would have spiralled crude prices to over USD 120-130 per barrel.
When asked about buying Russian oil during a press interaction, Minister Puri explained that Russia produces over 9 million barrels per day and is one of the world's largest crude oil producers.
If, out of global oil supplies of around 97 million barrels, 9 million barrels had suddenly vanished, the entire world would have had to reduce consumption by over 10 per cent, which is impossible, he said.
This chaos would have led to global oil prices spiralling to over USD 120-130 per barrel, as all consumers would have been competing for the reduced supplies.
"Imagine the chaos if this oil, amounting to about 10 per cent of the global oil supply of around 97 million, vanished from the market," he said, during his visit to Vienna.
According to him, "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."
After the war erupted between Russia and Ukraine, the US and Western nations imposed restrictions on Moscow. However, India has continued to purchase Russian oil.
Russian oil was never subject to global sanctions; 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 praised India's role in navigating the energy crisis.
Silencing voices that have been questioning India's crude oil imports from Russia, Puri said that 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 added.
India continues to provide clean cooking gas to its 330 million households at the lowest prices in the world, the Minister affirmed, indicating its commitment to energy security for its people.
"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.
Meanwhile, India is making significant efforts to increase its traditional fossil-based energy production, and the latest push is to explore the Andaman region. India is the world's third-largest energy consumer with a demand of about 5.4 million barrels of oil per day.
India today imports 80 per cent of its oil and 50 per cent of its natural gas needs. India is now importing oil and gas from as many countries as possible to meet its demand.
Separately, during his participation at the 9th OPEC International Seminar held in Vienna on Wednesday, Minister Puri had a series of important bilateral and business meetings aimed at deepening India's energy partnerships and supporting the country's growing energy needs.
Puri met with Tareq Sulaiman Al-Roumi, Kuwait's Minister of Oil and Chairman of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, where they discussed ways to strengthen the existing association further.
Kuwait currently ranks as the 6th largest source of crude oil, the 4th most significant source of LPG, and stands as India's 8th largest hydrocarbon trade partner.
In a separate meeting, Puri met Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources. This interaction followed their previous engagement at the 2024 Davos meeting.
Indian companies have been consistent buyers of Nigerian crude, and the discussions focused on exploring avenues further to expand the hydrocarbons trade between the two nations and reinforce their longstanding partnership.
Additionally, Puri held a brief meeting with Wael Sawan, CEO of Shell, to discuss potential collaborations in light of India's ambitious exploration and production (E&P) plans.
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India is set to explore nearly 2.5 lakh square kilometres in new offshore and onshore areas, marking one of the world's largest bidding rounds.
Puri underlined that India's efforts to increase the share of natural gas in its energy mix from 6 per cent to 15 per cent present significant opportunities for advanced technological partnerships.
He noted that the drive towards greater E&P activity stands to benefit from Shell's cutting-edge technologies, paving the way for mutually beneficial collaborations that support India's energy security objectives.
At the Seminar, Puri also met the Secretary General of OPEC, Haitham Al Ghais.
They discussed India's strong partnership with OPEC and ways to ensure that oil markets remain balanced and predictable to support a smooth global transition into green and alternative energies, particularly in light of recent geopolitical challenges. As the world's third-largest importer of oil, India and OPEC, the grouping of major oil-producing countries, share a unique and symbiotic relationship.
In his meeting with Murray Auchincloss, CEO of bp, Puri shared that their discussions were engaging and insightful. They took forward the ongoing dialogue on strengthening bp's partnership in India's upstream and downstream energy sector.
BP has a longstanding and comprehensive engagement in India across the energy value chain and has participated in the 9th Round of OALP. Discussions also covered India's plans to aggressively enhance its domestic E&P capabilities by exploring 2.5 lakh sq km under OALP Round-10.
Over the years, Indian PSUs have partnered with bp for E&P investment globally and are now collaborating in retail, natural gas, and compressed biogas, which are central to India's green energy transition. BP has also established a world-class Global Business and Technology Center in Pune which provides cutting-edge services to their global operations.
Puri also met Russel Hardy, Group CEO of Vitol, where they discussed current challenges in the global energy markets and collaborations across the hydrocarbons value chain.