Ample oil supply, no panic: Puri downplays threat from secondary US sanctions against Russia

New Delhi: Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri downplayed concerns over potential disruptions in India’s crude oil supply if the United States (US) were to impose secondary sanctions on Russia. Speaking at Urjavarta 2025, organised by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH), Puri said, “India is not unduly worried about US President Donald Trump imposing secondary sanctions against Russia because there is ample availability of crude oil from diverse sources.”

“I don’t feel any pressure in my mind. At the time the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, we were buying 0.2 percent of our overall crude from the Russian Federation. Today, it has gone up considerably. But equally, during this period, India has diversified the sources of supply and we have gone up from around 27 countries (we used to buy oil from) to about 40 countries now,” said Puri on Thursday. India is dependent on crude oil imports to meet around 88 percent of its requirement. Today, out of the country’s total oil imports, Russian crude accounts for 40 percent.

Threat of US sanctions against Russia

Earlier this week, Trump threatened to slap Russia with a secondary wave of economic sanctions if Moscow fails to reach a peace agreement with Kiev within 50 days. Reacting to this, Puri said, “I have heard these threats. Some statements are made to ensure two disputants settle an issue.”

Addressing a press conference later in the day, Puri said that the oil market no longer reacts to geopolitical turmoil in a knee-jerk fashion (in terms of prices) because there is good availability of oil. He cited the examples of crude oil production coming in from Brazil and Canada.

Puri said that at present, the price of crude oil is around USD 68.5 per barrel and it is expected to remain around the same levels in the months to come. “I think it will be somewhere around USD 65/barrel,” he said.

Commenting on the possibility of a closure of the Strait of Hormuz—a key shipping route for global oil flows — Puri said the scenario was highly unlikely. He added that India’s state-run refiners have sufficient inventories to manage any potential disruptions.

India ramping up domestic oil exploration & production

Puri said that India is also ramping up the hunt for new deposits of oil and is engaged in bringing them to production at the earliest. He said that the Centre is bringing changes to the legislative framework to encourage investment in the domestic oil and gas industry, referring to the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 2024, passed recently by Parliament.

Puri also pulled up upstream oil companies for their failure to bring to production the oil and gas blocks awarded to them. “In the E&P sector, we are seeing companies bidding for blocks and later not developing it. These are blocks won 12 years ago and remain undeveloped until today. We are taking drastic steps against it now. We are cancelling these blocks now,” said the minister.

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