Under Joe Biden’s presidency, India is looking forward to resume with oil supplies from Iran and Venezuela to meet the country’s requirements. Due to threat of sanctions by the Trump regime, India had to halt crude oil imports from the two countries.
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said India should have more options to meet its growing requirements. “As a buyer, I would like to have more buying places. I should have more destinations to go for purchasing,” he said. The minister highlighted that India consumed just six per cent of the of the world’s primary energy and its per capita consumption is on-third of the global average. “India’s energy consumption is projected to grow at three per cent per annum up to 2040, faster than all major economies of the world,” he said. “Also, the country’s share of total global primary energy demand is set to roughly double to 11 per cent by 2040, driven by strong economic development.”
India is 85 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs. Two-third of its imports come from the Middle East, with Iraq and Saudi Arabia being the largest suppliers. Iran was India’s second-biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11. India stopped importing crude oil from Iran following the re-imposition of economic sanctions, by the United States, in May 2019. Venezuela was India’s fourth biggest oil supplier, but import dwindled after the Trump regime imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA in January of 2019.
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Pradhan said the days of monopoly are long gone. “Oil producers have to recognize the aspirations of consumers. It is a consumer-driven market today. India needs a reasonable price.” The minister also said that India is in the midst of a major transformative shift that aims to enhance the availability and affordability of clean fossil fuels and also reduce the carbon footprint through a healthy mix of all commercially-viable energy sources.
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