No fuel price cuts amid strained global supply lines: Hardeep Singh Puri
Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri says the government’s immediate priority is on ensuring that fuel is available at affordable prices
AT Photo
New Delhi, Jan 3: There won’t be a cut in petroleum prices at this stage, Union Minister for Oil & Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said Wednesday, putting an end to the month-long speculation that the government may reduce the price of the commodity by up to Rs 6 a litre.
Terming such reports as highly speculative and mischievous, Puri said, “I would [like to] clarify there is no such discussion with the oil marketing companies on this issue. Please [understand] that we are in a highly turbulent situation.”
Stopping short of naming any countries in particular, the minister, in an oblique reference said that two global events—the Russian military action in Ukraine and the latest Israel-Hamas war—had stressed oil supply lines.
“The one particular area of the Red Sea and Suez Canal is the conduit for 12 per cent of global shipping traffic… God forbid if there is a further challenge, do you see the kind of disruption that can be caused?”
In the past fortnight, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched multiple missile and drone attacks on merchant vessels passing through the Red Sea transit route.
Amid this volatility, the government was ensuring that fuel was being made available at affordable prices, he said.
“This is the only country in the world where prices have come down!”
Government committed to preventing shortages
Puri further added that the government was cognizant of the challenges and had been working proactively to prevent any fuel shortages in the world’s third-largest energy market.
“We have diversified our sources of supply and, at the same time, many of the suppliers have changed their routes. But in this kind of a situation, our as well as the other operators’ responsibility in this ecosystem is to ensure there is availability.”
India is gradually reducing its dependence on the oil-rich countries of the Middle East and the member countries of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for its crude supplies to ensure the security of crude oil supply lines by easing dependence on any single region. For instance, Russia, which is not an OPEC member, currently accounts for 40 per cent of the country’s oil imports.
State-owned OMCs like Indian Oil Corp Ltd (IOCL) have diversified their purchase from across geographies to also include Africa, the Americas and Australia.
Besides, in a bid to expand Exploration and Production (E&P) activity to augment domestic production of oil and natural gas, the country is looking to increase its exploration acreage to 0.5 million sq km by 2025 and 1.0 million sq km by 2030.
