Brushing aside the G7 price cap on Russian oil, India on Thursday said crude purchases are based on the country’s energy security needs. The statement came at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Uzbekistan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, where energy security is set to be a key part of deliberations.
Addressing a media briefing on PM Modi’s Uzbekistan visit, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said India’s procurement of Russian crude oil is not under any government-to-government framework and Indian entities make the purchase from the market to respond to the country’s energy security requirement.
Kwatra also chose not to comment on the proposed price cap on Russian oil, a move initiated by the G7 countries to choke Moscow’s oil revenue.
PM Modi To Meet Putin
The G7 countries are reportedly seeking India’s support to enforce the price cap on Russian oil.
Modi is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). India’s procurement of discounted crude oil from Russia has seen a significant jump in the last few months notwithstanding an increasing disquiet over it by the Western countries.
“India is not a member of the G7. Deeper discounts, market pricing.. look, we have said this several times that when the Indian entities go out and try to respond to India’s needs of the energy security and procure oil, they essentially procure it from the market,” Kwatra said. He was responding to a question on the issue.
“These are not government-to-government purchases that we do. On the price cap coalition, what form it takes, what shape it evolves into, something I think the countries that floated that idea perhaps can better answer to it,” he said.
India’s oil imports from Russia
India’s crude oil imports from Russia have jumped over 50 times since April and now it makes up for 10 per cent of all crude bought from overseas. Russian oil made up for just 0.2 per cent of all oil imported by India prior to the Ukraine war.
The Western countries are gradually bringing down their energy purchases from Russia following its attack on Ukraine. The G7 comprised Japan, the UK, the US, Canada, France, Germany and Italy.
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