17 July,2025 04:47 PM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
Hardeep Singh Puri (above) said that India’s oil imports from Russia have helped keep global prices stable. File Pic
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, said on Thursday that India has widened the number of countries it buys oil from, so it is not overly concerned about possible US action on Russian oil exports, the IANS reported.
Speaking at the Urja Varta 2025 event, Puri said India now buys oil from 40 countries, compared to just 27 in 2007, and the global oil market has enough supply.
"There is plenty of oil in the market. Iran and Venezuela are currently under sanctions, but that may not always be the case. Countries like Brazil and Canada are increasing production. I am not too worried about supply because we have diversified our sources," he said, according to the IANS.
His comments came after US President Donald Trump warned that countries buying oil from Russia -- including India and China -- could face secondary sanctions.
On July 15, Donald Trump said that he would increase tariffs on Russian exports to 100 per cent unless Russia agrees to a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days. He also threatened secondary sanctions on countries continuing to buy Russian oil, as per the IANS.
Reacting to Trump's comments, Hardeep Singh Puri said, "I have heard these threats. Sometimes such statements are made to push both sides to settle their differences," the news agency reported.
Puri added that India's oil imports from Russia have helped keep global prices stable. When the war in Ukraine started in 2022, oil prices could have jumped to USD 130 per barrel if India hadn't started buying from Russia.
Before the war, only 0.2 per cent of India's crude oil imports came from Russia. Now, that figure is close to 40 per cent.
Puri also pointed out that while Russian oil has been sold under a USD 60 price cap, it has never been officially under sanctions. India still does not buy oil from countries that are officially sanctioned.
"Russia produces over 9 million barrels of oil a day -- about 10 per cent of the global supply. If that oil were suddenly removed from the market, prices could have shot up to USD 120-130 per barrel, creating chaos," he said.
(with IANS inputs)
