India is ready to continue buying oil from Russian companies that are allowed to make such sales as prices are cheap, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday.
Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its war with Ukraine have capped the price Russia can charge for its crude, and India is willing to buy oil and gas at the lowest possible prices, Puri said in an interview with Reuters at the GasTech conference in Houston.
“If an entity is not subject to sanctions, there is no doubt that I will source from the cheapest supplier,” he said.
European countries and Japanese companies are buying from Russia, so India is not alone, he added.
India is one of the world’s largest energy consumers, importing 88% of its oil needs, and Puri expects energy consumption to rise, with greater reliance on natural gas and renewables.
India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer and importer, has an annual refining capacity of about 252 million tonnes, or 5.04 million barrels per day (bpd), and is looking to expand it.
“Projects have been put in place to increase this capacity to 300 million tonnes per year (600,000 bpd). We are considering whether to increase to 400 or 450,” he added.
The surge in global prices of super-chilled gas after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has slowed India’s adoption of natural gas. India plans to increase its gas consumption from 6% to 15% of the energy mix by 2030, but the speed of the change depends on prices.
“If gas prices stabilize and come down, its share in our energy mix will increase,” Puri said.
The Indian state and private companies have invested in liquefied natural gas projects and will continue to look for places to invest globally.
Mr Puri said India had initiated discussions with Guyana, which has more than 12 billion barrels of recoverable oil equivalent resources.
India is also in talks with the world’s five largest oil and gas companies over the possibility of them exploring hydrocarbons in India.
