Amid the global energy supply being affected due to the West Asia crisis, India has clarified that it has been continuously buying oil from Russia, and this purchase has been going on before the sanctions, during the exemption from sanctions, and is still ongoing.
India has said that the country's public sector oil companies make decisions keeping in mind the commercial, i.e., market perspective, at the time of purchase.
Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Sujata Sharma, said this in response to questions during a press conference called to inform about the situation arising out of the West Asia crisis. She said that there is no shortage of crude oil in the country and the supply of oil is being ensured through various sources.
Ms. Sharma said, in response to a question about buying oil from Russia after the exemption from US sanctions ended, that India has been buying oil from Russia since before, i.e., before the exemption, during the exemption, and even now. The Joint Secretary said that the decision to buy oil from where is taken keeping in mind the market situation in India. She said that the supply of crude oil in the country is being ensured equally and is not affected by the exemption or not.
It is worth noting that the US has imposed sanctions on India for buying oil from Russia, but considering the West Asia crisis, the US had given an exemption from these sanctions, which ended on May 16. In response to another question, Ms. Sharma informed that after the increase in petrol and diesel prices, there has been a slight decrease in the losses of oil companies, and now they are incurring a loss of Rs 750 crore every day. In response to another question, she said that the government is not considering any proposal to provide a relief package to oil companies to compensate for their losses at present.
She said that it has been more than two and a half months since the West Asia crisis began, and the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is still not normal. This has increased oil prices in the international market, and our imports have also been affected. She said that all refineries in the country are operating normally, and there is no shortage of crude oil in the country. She said that the supply of LPG is also going on as per normal.