India will buy oil supplies from anywhere as long as it is beneficial

India’s Energy Minister told CNBC that India will guarantee oil from anywhere as long as the terms are favorable.

India is third largest oil consumer worldwide, and according to Hardeep Singh Puri, accounts for 30% of global consumption.

“We feel confident today that we’ll be able to use our marketplace to source wherever we have to go, from wherever we get favorable terms,” ​​he said. The minister told CNBC’s Tanvir Gill on “Squawk Box Europe,” as part of India’s energy week.

“The favorable terms in this situation are: you have to be sure of your supply,” he explains.

India buys Russian oil at a highly discounted price since global powers imposed sanctions on the Kremlin in an attempt to cut its ability to raise funds for the war against Ukraine.

India’s oil imports surged to a five-month record in December as the country aggressively ramped up purchases of Russian crude. according to Reuters.

The report also said that about 70% of Russia’s January oil shipments will go to India, and the South Asian country has been Moscow’s top customer for Ural oil for several months now.

“We don’t allow geopolitical turmoil, pandemics or anything else to get in the way of our ability to deliver to consumers,” Puri added.

in him inauguration speech at India’s Energy Week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged foreign investors to take advantage of opportunities in India’s energy sector.

“Our expanding energy sector is creating new opportunities for investment and cooperation in India,” Modi said Monday in Bengaluru, Karnataka. “We are also working on a mission mode to increase natural gas consumption in our energy mix by 2030. The target has been set to increase this consumption from 6% to 15%. “

Puri further noted that India’s oil consumption has been at 5 million bpd for a long time. However, there is still room for domestic consumption to increase with the country’s economic growth, he added.

“If the economy is growing at 6.5%, 7% and our consumption is tripled the global average, then you’re not looking at 5 million barrels. But 6 or 6.5. million barrels,” he said, admitting it was still uncertain when that would happen.

Both China and India increased their purchases Russian oil after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, benefited from a discount.

India’s oil minister said the purchase of oil from Russia is in another dimension. He drew up a hypothetical scenario that if the global oil supply were to be disrupted, that could lead to a spike in oil prices.

“Can you imagine a situation, [where] Iranian oil is sanctioned, Russia has a problem, Venezuela cannot supply its oil. Then the price of oil won’t be $200 but it will be $480,” Puri said, noting that the Indian government doesn’t care where the supply comes from, including Russia.