India is currently importing crude oil from 41 countries, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said.
Speaking at an event organized by a trade federation in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, on Monday, he said: Due to the West Asian crisis (the Iran-US war), the supply of crude oil and natural gas has been affected.
In particular, 40 percent of energy transportation has been affected. However, India is successfully coping with this situation.
It is true that energy supply is a challenge at the international level. At the same time, every challenging situation presents an opportunity. That opportunity must be used. The government will take action to ensure that nothing goes beyond our control. I assure you of this.
At present, there is no shortage of crude oil globally. While the daily requirement is 94 million barrels of crude oil, 104 million barrels of crude oil are currently in stock. Earlier, India used to import crude oil from 27 countries. Following the West Asian crisis, it has begun importing crude oil from 41 countries.
India’s major crude oil suppliers—Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia—are all located in the part of West Asia where war is taking place. There is also risk in importing crude oil from those countries through an alternative route (instead of the Strait of Hormuz).
In particular, there are problems with importing via the Red Sea route. Shipping there faces a threat due to attacks being carried out by the Houthi group (in Yemen).
In India, the number of LPG gas connections was 14 crore in 2014. That number has now increased to 33.5 crore. Therefore, the government is also paying attention to ensuring that gas supply is not disrupted. Domestic daily LPG production has been increased from 34,000 metric tonnes to 54,000 metric tonnes.
With the aim of keeping petrol and diesel prices under control in the country, the government reduced excise duty three times in total: in November 2021, May 2022, and March 2026.
With the last reduction in excise duty, the prices of petrol and diesel came down by up to Rs. 10 per litre. Petroleum companies are incurring losses of up to Rs. 530 crore every day. It is the Central government that is providing financial assistance to those companies.
The petroleum sector alone contributes 19 percent of the country’s total tax revenue. Therefore, if there is any disruption in energy management, it will have a major impact on the country’s economy, he said.
