Israel-Iran Tensions: Puri says India has adequate energy supplies

New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) India, the world’s third-largest oil importer and fourth biggest gas buyer, has enough energy supplies for the coming months, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said amid escalating tensions in the globe’s biggest energy supply regions.

In a post on X, the minister said he held a periodic review of energy availability scenario with the captains of the Indian oil industry.

“India’s energy strategy is shaped by successfully navigating the trilemma of energy availability, affordability and sustainability,” he said. “We have adequate energy supplies for the coming months.”

Global oil prices have jumped to their highest level since January after Israel struck Iran, in a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

The rate of the benchmark Brent crude was up by more than 10 per cent shortly after the news emerged, but eased a little. Brent was trading close to USD 75 a barrel, up more than 5 per cent over Thursday’s close.

India imports more than 85 per cent of its crude oil needs and roughly half of its natural gas requirement. More than 40 per cent of the oil imports and half of the gas imports come from the Middle East.

Despite the spike on Friday, oil prices are still more than 10 per cent lower than where they were at the same point last year. They are also well below over USD 100 a barrel rate seen in early 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is India’s largest supplier of crude oil, which is refined into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries. Qatar is India’s biggest supplier of natural gas, which is used to make fertilisers, generate electricity and turned into CNG to run automobiles and piped to household kitchens for cooking.