India is ready to increase energy imports from the United States as it seeks supplies from whichever source is most suitable to power the expansion of the world’s most populous country, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told Newsweek.
India has increased energy imports from Russia in recent years, but Puri said it was pricing and availability and not ideology that would decide its energy choices.
“A few years ago, we didn’t import any energy from the United States. Now we’re importing about 15-20 billion dollars from the United States. It’s entirely conceivable that we’ll import more from the United States. There is more and more oil coming onto the international market, particularly from countries in the Western Hemisphere,” he told Newsweek’s Opportunity India podcast.
Fastest Growing Major Economy
India has the world’s fastest growing major economy, which drives its increasing energy needs — currently at some $150 billion a year, according to Puri. President Donald Trump‘s administration is also keen to increase energy exports to India to address a U.S. trade deficit of well over $45 billion in 2024.
India has been a major importer of oil from Russia, whose energy exports have been targeted by Western countries over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, forcing it to look for markets elsewhere. India and Russia have had longstanding trade and diplomatic ties, strengthened by being members of the BRICS countries bloc.
“There are many myths going around. First of all, sanctions. There are no sanctions on Russian oil per se,” he said.
Russian Supplies
Puri noted that while Russian oil imports had hit over 40 percent in May 2024, they were now much less, but had been only 0.2 percent some three years ago.
“Imports by a large consumer, a large refiner, are essentially dependent on availability at a reasonable price. So India used to import from 27 countries. We are now importing from 40 countries,” he said.
“It is entirely conceivable that the traditional matrix, which was we consumed 5 million barrels in a day, we used to import about 800,000 barrels a day each from the Saudis, the Emiratis, Kuwaitis, Iraqis, another 800,000 from everyone else. That began to change when Russian oil was available on the market.
India would determine its own sources of imports, Puri said, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies, which reflect Indian independence.
“I think India under Modi has shown that whilst we are polite people, we don’t mind listening to opinions occasionally, but we are not going to have our energy policy dictated by anyone,” he said.
“Because the Prime Minister’s fundamental commitment, it’s like a moral duty, is to the Indian consumer. Therefore, India is one of the few countries in the world where in the last three years, prices of energy, petrol, diesel, at the retail point, have actually come down.”
India And Climate Change
Puri said that as India grows, it remains committed to policies to help in addressing climate change.
“Out of all the G20 countries, and there are a lot of them, India is the only one which has met its Paris commitments,” he said.
“We are simultaneously accelerating the transition to biofuels. We were at 1.4 percent in 2014. We are at 20 percent now. We were supposed to do 20 percent biofuels blending by 2026. We’ve done it six years in advance. We are stepping on the gas, literally, pun intended, on CBG (compressed biogas), etc. We are moving at breakneck speed on green hydrogen.”
Energy Exploration
Nonetheless, India was also exploring for fossil energy sources domestically and taking steps to free up their production, Puri said, pointing to what he called a “lost decade” between 2006 and 2016. India was now offering some 200,000 square kilometers for licensing, he said, pointing to optimism for the Andaman Sea in particular.
“Now, if you have the known reserves of both crude oil and gas, and you’re not allowing people to get to it, then there’s something wrong,” he said.
“I’m very encouraged by some of the new collaboration agreements our companies are entering into with the oil majors there’s a lot of buzz and activity now, and it will pay off.”
Watch the full podcast to find out much more about India’s energy prospects, including those for domestic gas supplies.
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