India's import of Russian crude oil less than 1% of total; share from US to rise: Puri

New Delhi, March 22 - Neftegaz.RU. India buying more volumes of crude oil from Russia is still less than 1 % of the total oil imports while the volumes from the US will rise significantly, Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said, Press Trust of India has reported..
Puri pointed out:

• India bought 419,000 tonnes of crude oil from Russia during the 1^st 10 months of the current fiscal year that began in April 2020, which was 0.2 % of the total import of 175.9 million tonnes.
• In 2020-21, India imported 633,000 tonnes of 0.3 % while in 2019-20 the purchases were 2.93 million tonnes or 1.3 % of total imports

The statement comes against the backdrop of Indian firms picking up distressed Russian cargoes being offered at deep discounts.
While IOC has bought 3 million barrels through a trader, HPCL has picked up 2 million barrels.
Puri said:

• We require a total of 5 million barrels per day, that is our crude oil consumption
• 60 % of it comes from the Gulf
• Even if we were to scale these up considerably, it would still be a drop, literally a drop, in a larger bucket

Stating that oil imports from Russia are «minuscule», he said:

• even now, the total amount contracted will be less than 3 days' supply from Russia to India and that also spread over the next 3 to 4 months

On the US, Puri said India has a robust bilateral energy relationship with Washington.
In the financial year 2020-21 (April 2020 - March 2021), India imported 14 million tonnes of crude from the U.S., representing 7.3 % of total imports.
Puri said:

• In the current year, based on our imports from the U.S. and if I look at the projection, these are likely to go up from 14 million tonnes to 16.8 million tonnes or a value of about $10 billion of imports of crude oil from the US
• Adding imports of LNG and coal, the trade will be close to $3.5 billion
• So, it is a robust relationship on the energy front, and I see this continuing for some time

On the impact of western sanctions on Indian investment in Russia, the minister said Indian state oil firms have invested $16 billion in oil & gas projects in Russia.
Some multinationals including ExxonMobil and Shell have announced exit from the Russian projects.
This, Puri said, is nuanced:

• Some have indicated an intent to exit
• Others have said they will not make a fresh investment
• But, as I said, we are monitoring the situation