S Jaishankar, India’s external affairs minister, defended India’s determination to acquire “excellent bargains” for energy supplies amid global market instability on Thursday, noting that European countries were among the largest consumers of Russian oil and gas.
Jaishankar made the remarks during a chat with his British colleague Liz Truss at the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum.
While talking to Liz, he remarked, “The majority of Russian oil and gas purchasers are from Europe, whereas India’s energy supplies come from the Middle East, with over 8% coming from the United States. Russia supplied less than 1% of India’s crude purchases.”
However, Truss has acknowledged India’s decision to buy discounted oil from Russia.
As per the reports, Russia is offering a $35 per barrel discount compared to prices before the start of the Ukraine crisis in February.
Following this, Indian Oil Corp has a contract with Russian oil major Rosneft that allows it to buy up to 2 million tonnes of Urals in 2022, equivalent to around 15 million barrels.
