The Centre on Saturday said India will continue buying crude oil from countries offering the most competitive prices, even as tensions rise along the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing Iran-US-Israel conflict. The government said India’s energy supplies remain secure despite disruptions in global shipping routes and energy flows due to the conflict.
"Despite rising tensions on the Hormuz Route, India's energy supply remains secure and stable. India has diversified its crude oil sources from 27 to 40 countries, ensuring multiple alternative supply routes. In the national interest, India purchases oil from wherever the most competitive and affordable rates are available," the Centre said in a post on X.
The US had said it has given “permission” to India to buy Russian oil that is on ships already floating on waterways with a view to easing supplies around the world amid the West Asia conflict. “The world is very well supplied in oil. Yesterday, the Treasury (Department) agreed to let our allies in India start buying Russian oil that was already on the water,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview to Fox Business on Friday.
“The Indians had been very good actors. We had asked them to stop buying sanctioned Russian oil this fall. They did. They were going to substitute it with US oil. But to ease the temporary gap of oil around the world, we have given them permission to accept the Russian oil. We may unsanction other Russian oil,” he said.
Bessent added that there are hundreds of millions of sanctioned barrels of sanctioned crude on the water, and in essence, “by unsanctioning them, Treasury can create supply. And we are looking at that. We are going to keep a cadence of announcing measures to bring relief to the market during this conflict.”
Several other Trump administration officials have also been saying that the US has now allowed India to buy Russian oil, months after President Donald Trump had imposed 25 per cent punitive tariffs on Delhi for its purchases of oil from Moscow.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a post on X Friday that the United States is “allowing our friends in India” to take the Russian oil already on ships around Southern Asia, refine it and move the stocks into the market quickly in order to ensure a flowing supply and ease pressure amid the ongoing US-Israel war against Iran.
"We have implemented short term measures to help keep oil prices down. We are allowing our friends in India to take oil that is already on ships, refine it, and move those barrels into the market quickly. A practical way to get supply flowing and ease pressure,” Wright said.
In an interview to ABC News Live, Wright said that long-term oil supplies are “abundant” and there are no worries regarding that, but in the short term, there is a need to get oil on the market.
“But as oil gets bid up a little bit because of those constraints coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, we're taking a short-term action to say all this floating Russian oil storage that's around Southern Asia, it's China just backed up, China does not treat their suppliers well, so there's a bunch of floating barrels just sitting there.
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
