Oil Minister: India will continue to buy cheap Russian oil

Hardeep Singh puri, the oil minister, said that India was willing to continue buying oil from Russian companies who are permitted to sell oil at such low prices.

Puri said in an interview given at the GasTech Conference in Houston that Western sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine have limited the price Russia could charge for its crude. India, he added, is willing to buy oil and natural gas from anyone at the lowest prices possible.

He said: "If a company is not subject to sanctions, I will definitely buy from them."

He said that European countries as well as Japanese companies buy from Russia. India is therefore not the only one.

Puri believes that India will continue to increase its energy consumption, as it uses more natural gas and renewables.

India is the third largest oil importer and consumer in the world. It has a refining capacity that's about 252 millions metric tons, or 5,04 million barrels a day.

Now, there are projects in place to increase it to 300 million metric tonnes per year (600,000 Bpd). He added that we are currently brainstorming whether to take it up to 400 or even 450.

The price of super-chilled natural gas has increased after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This has led to a slowdown in India's use of gas. India wants to use gas as 15% of its energy mix by 2030, up from the current 6%. However, the price of gas will determine the pace of change.

Puri stated that if gas prices stabilized and fell, the share of gas in our energy mix would increase.

Indian companies and the Indian government have invested in projects involving liquefied gas and they will continue to do so.

Puri stated that India has had discussions with Guyana which has more than 12 billion barrels recoverable equivalent oil resources.

He said that India is also in discussions with the five largest oil companies in the world about the possibility of them exploring hydrocarbons in India. (Reporting by Curtis Williams, Editing by Peter Henderson Nidhi verma and Kim Coghill

(source: Reuters)