Don't politicise legitimate energy transaction, message from New Delhi on getting discounted Russian oil
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
Amid criticism by the West, especially from Europe over India buying discounted oil from Russia, sources in Delhi have said that "India's legitimate energy transactions should not be politicised" and "countries with oil self-sufficiency or those importing themselves from Russia cannot credibly advocate restrictive trading".In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US had announced that it will ban import of Russian oil, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and coal with Europe also emphasising that it will move away from dependency on Russian energy. Sources highlighted that the, "jump in oil prices after the Ukraine conflict has now added to our challenges" and "the pressure for competitive sourcing has naturally increased".India has not been importing crude from Iran and Venezuela even as New Delhi has been looking for sources that are not high cost.India imports 85 per cent of its crude oil requirement, which translates into five million barrels a day with most of the imports from West Asia. On Thursday, Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi in response to a question on importing Russian oil said, "as you're all aware, India does import most of its oil requirements. So it's met by imports.So, we are always exploring all possibilities in global energy markets, because of this situation that we face of importing our oil requirement", adding, "Let me just highlight that a number of countries are doing so (importing Russian energy), especially in Europe". Sources pointed out that India has to focus on "competitive energy sources" and "we welcome such offers from all producers. Indian traders to operate in global energy markets to explore best options".West has announced a number of sanctions on Russia and President Putin in the aftermath of invasion of Ukraine, but sources in Delhi explained that they "avoid impact on energy imports from Russia" and Russian banks which are the main channels for European Union payments for Russian energy imports have not been excluded from SWIFT.