New Delhi, July 12 . Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that India’s purchase of crude oil from Russia has helped in bringing global energy prices to a stable level.
In an interview to a foreign news channel, Union Minister Puri said, “Russia is one of the largest crude oil producers with production of more than 9 million barrels per day. Imagine what would have happened if this oil, which is about 10 percent of the global oil supply of about 97 million barrels, disappeared from the market. This would have forced the world to reduce its consumption and as consumers would be looking for supplies, prices would have gone up to more than $ 120-130.”
The Union Minister said, “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has been a net positive contributor to global energy price stability, as well as we have successfully faced the challenges of energy availability, affordability and sustainability.”
He pointed out that there were never global sanctions on Russian oil.
Union Minister Puri said, “Smart decision makers across the world were aware of the realities of the global oil supply chain and they knew that India was helping the global markets by buying subsidized oil under a certain price band from wherever possible.”
He further said, “Some commentators, who do not understand the dynamics of energy markets, pass unnecessary judgements on our policies.”
Union Minister Puri informed that India is providing clean cooking gas to 33 crore households in the country at the lowest prices in the world, while providing universal clean cooking gas to more than 10.3 crore beneficiary families under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana at the rate of only $ 0.4 / kg or only 7-8 cents / day.
Meanwhile, the Union minister in a statement on social media platform X also said that India is planning to explore and excavate oil and gas with all-new vigour in an area of 2.5 lakh sq km in the 10th round under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP).
He emphasised that India aims to increase the country’s exploration area to 0.5 million sq km by 2025 and to 1.0 million sq km by 2030.
