ONGC Executive Director Calls India’s Imports of Russian Oil A Win-Win For World Economy: Report

ONCG’s executive director noted that India has helped the world economy by importing oil from Russia as it has added to the oil in the Gulf regions for other countries to tap into, specially Europe.

The Indian oil company's executive added that India is investing in tapping into the upstream opportunities in the oil industry.

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Indian imports of Russian crude oil are a win-win situation for the global economy, said the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s executive director at the annual APPEC energy conference in Singapore. 

The ONCG’s executive director, K C Ramesh, noted that India has helped the world economy by importing oil from Russia, “in the sense that [we] freed up some oil on the Gulf for other countries to source, particularly Europe. So it was kind of a win-win situation,” reported CNBC. The APPEC energy conference is organised by S&P Global Insights. 

Notably, India has been importing discounted Russian oil since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Ever since, Russia has become the top contributor to India’s crude oil needs and now accounts for 40 per cent of India’s crude imports. As a result of the invasion, Western nations including the US, and the European Union levied sanctions and curbs on Russia’s oil exports last year.

But these restrictions have proven beneficial for India which has been able to secure crude at discounted prices, Ramesh stated. He added, “[It has] a very huge impact on our economy, in terms of helping the [Indian] economy grow … the price being very reasonable that we get from Russia.”

However, India has faced a lot of slack from the West for buying Russian crude. Earlier in May, the European Union chief diplomat Josep Borrell asked for a crackdown on India for selling products made from Russian crude in Europe, the report noted. 

Notably, India is the world’s third-largest energy importer and it purchases more than 80 per cent of it’s crude oil from global markets. According to the data from S&P Global, India’s majority of crude imports are sourced from the Middle East and Russia. 

The Indian oil company's executive added that India is investing in tapping into the upstream opportunities in the oil industry. He noted that India is looking at an investment worth about $44 billion in the next three years. Upstream opportunities in the oil industry indicate exploring oil or gas deposits and then extracting them.