We have a Moral duty to provide oil to our citizens: Hardeep Puri on Russian Oil
01 Nov 2022 14:58:57
Washingon D.C., Nov 01: Union petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri defended India's purchases stating that India only bought 0.2 percent, not 2 percent of Russian oil and it buys a quarter of what Europe buys in one afternoon.
Union petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday reiterated that India is under no moral conflict to stop buying oil from Russia.
Responding to a question by CNN's Becky Anderson who questioned Puri on whether India had "qualms" over purchasing so much from Russia, the minister said: "Absolutely none, there is no moral conflict, if somebody wants to take an ideological position...We don't buy from X or Y, we buy whatever is available. I don't do the buying, it's the oil companies who do the buying. Puri defended India's purchases stating that India only bought 0.2 percent, not 2 percent of Russian oil and it buys a quarter of what Europe buys in one afternoon.
Asked whether India is benefitting from discounted rates of Russia, Puri said, "Let me first try and correct your perspective, we ended the financial year 2022, the purchases of Russian oil were not 2 percent, it was 0.2 percent. Moreover, we still buy a quarter of what Europe buys in one afternoon. So, let's be very clear about what the perspective is." Asked about India's backup plan if the West decides to tighten the oil ban from Russia, Puri said "We have many backup plans, I don't look at the way you are looking at it. We have healthy discussions going on with the US and Europe. We don't feel any pressure, Modi's government doesn't feel the pressure. We are the fifth largest economy in the world, and we are the one country, which is making the transition. When you have an increase in the oil prices, they have consequences - one of them is - there will be inflation and recession, another is we will make the transition in green energy."The union minister also cleared the air about Russia being the largest supplier of oil to India.
"Russia is not the largest supplier of oil to India, Russia supplied only 0.2 percent. Now, it is one of the top four or five suppliers, and in fact, the largest supplier last month was Iraq. So, there is no misunderstanding anywhere," said Puri.
"We owe our moral duty to consumers, we have a 1.3 billion population and we have to ensure that they are supplied with energy, whether petrol or diesel. We were the only country in the world, at the time when we were feeding 800 million people free meals a day which we are still doing. The Government reduced its revenue in order to make sure that the prices of petrol ban didn't go up." Puri had last month in Washington after his bilateral meeting with US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm stated that the Indian government has a moral duty to provide energy to its citizens and will continue to buy oil wherever it has to. "India will buy oil from wherever it has to for the simple reason that this kind of a discussion cannot be taken to the consuming population of India," the minister said reiterating New Delhi's stand on buying oil from Russia amid the ongoing Ukraine war.
Meanwhile, during the CNN interview aired on October 31, asked about whether India was becoming a backdoor into Europe for Russian oil, which is imported into India where it is refined before being exported to Europe, the union minister said, "That was done by some private sector companies, not by OMC's. Who buys Russian oil, and where it is refined, we have nothing to do with that. The government doesn't do the buying. The oil trade is conducted by economic entities."