Press Trust of India@PTI_News
VIDEO | Talking on whether India will stop buying Russian oil as claimed by the US, foreign secretary Vikram Misri says the country is neither dependent on any single source for this, nor intend to be.
He says, "You are aware that India is a net importer in the oil and gas sector. We are a developing economy; we have to be conscious about our resource availability. Naturally, when you are dependent to the extent of 80–85% on an imported resource, you have to have concerns about the possibility of inflation driven by energy costs. So, it’s not surprising therefore that our foremost priority is to safeguard the interests of Indian consumers insofar as energy is concerned—to really ensure that they receive adequate energy at the right price and through reliable and secure supplies. And our import policy insofar as energy is concerned is therefore driven entirely by these objectives. Now, you would also have observed that in recent years, the global economy has faced significant uncertainties which have had a major impact on the stability of global energy markets... We are neither dependent on any single source for this, nor do we intend to be. And it is natural for the mix of sources to vary from time to time, depending on objective market conditions. Our approach is to maintain multiple sources of supply and diversify them as appropriate to ensure stability. Therefore, I would say that the more diversified we are in this area, the more secure we are. So far, as actual sourcing of energy is concerned—again, all of you follow this closely, so you know that the actual sourcing is done by oil companies. Oil companies in the public sector, oil companies in the private sector. And they make decisions based on market conditions. They assess availability at any given point in time, they assess risks, they assess costs in this process. And obviously, all of these companies also have their own internal accountability-related processes to look at and certain fiduciary responsibilities in the market..."
