India's legitimate energy transactions with Russia shouldn't be politicised: Sources

Days after the US cautioned India on buying discounted crude oil from Russia, government sources stressed that legitimate energy transactions should not be politicised. India's high dependence on imports is evident from the fact that nearly 85% of the country's crude oil requirement, i.e 5 million barrels a day has to be imported. While most of the imports are from West Asia- Iraq (23%), Saudi Arabia (18%) and UAE (11%), 7.3% of India's crude oil imports are from the US. As per government sources, the US might account for around 11% of India's crude oil imports in the upcoming months.

Highlighting that the Centre had to stop sourcing oil from Iran and Venezuela due to the geopolitical situation, sources indicated that alternative options have come at a higher cost. They also addressed apprehensions about India's dependence on Russia citing that it accounts for less than 1% of the crude oil imports and there is no Government-to-Government arrangement in this regard. At the same time, government sources pointed out that Russian oil and gas is procured by many European countries. For instance, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Romania are large importers of Russian crude oil.

They also noted that the Western sanctions on Russia in wake of its invasion of Ukraine have been designed in a way that there will be no detrimental impact on energy imports from Russia. For example, Russian banks that are the main channels for European Union payments for energy imports have not been excluded from SWIFT. Maintaining that countries with oil self-sufficiency or those importing themselves from Russia cannot preach restrictive trading to India, government sources affirmed that the Centre will keep focusing on competitive energy sources.

A day earlier, sources told PTI that Indian Oil Corporation had bought nearly 3 million barrels of crude oil that Russia offered at a steep discount. While refusing to explicitly confirm that India intends to buy discounted crude oil from Russia, MEA official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told the media on Thursday, 'India does import most of its oil requirements, it's met by imports. So we are always exploring all possibilities in global energy markets because of this situation that we face of importing our oil requirements". 

US' veiled dig to India

At her news conference on March 15, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki opined that India won't violate sanctions by opting to buy discounted crude oil from Russia. However, she added, “But also think about where you want to stand when history books are written at this moment in time. Support for the Russian leadership is support for an invasion that obviously is having a devastating impact". This comes at a juncture when India has faced criticism from certain quarters for not outrightly condemning Russia's aggression and abstained from resolutions tabled on the Ukraine war in the UNSC as well as the UNGA. 

At the same time, PM Modi has spoken to both Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian president Vladimir Putin on multiple occasions on aspects such as the safe evacuation of Indian nationals and cessation of violence. On March 7, PM Modi also suggested a direct conversation between Zelenskyy and Putin to assist in the attempts to broker peace. However, Russia is pushing Ukraine to acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory, recognise the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states and change its Constitution to reject any intention to enter any bloc.

(With PTI inputs)