India will speed up the diversification of its oil sourcing in order to ensure its energy security and affordability, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.
Reacting to the decision by oil-producing countries to cut output by two million barrels a day, the minister said that it will “hurt large importers like India.” Delhi spent around $120 billion last year on the import of petroleum products.
“We have diversified the sources from where we source energy and will diversify it further… There are many sources, and we will not hesitate to take action," the Indian minister said.
Singh Puri also explained that his government will do “all that is required to ensure energy security and affordability.”
Last week, OPEC+ agreed to cut oil production by two million barrels per day from November and will take production levels for August as a reference point. The move was made in response to uncertainty in global oil markets, in part caused by western sanctions on Russian energy deliveries and G7 plans to introduce a price cap on Russian crude.
Indian government data suggests that Saudi Arabia is the top oil supplier to local refiners over the last six months, followed by Iraq.
However, September data showed crude oil imports from Russia rose 18.5% month-on-month, making it the country's second-largest crude oil supplier after Saudi Arabia that month.
Russia's discounted oil has become a lucrative option for Indian refiners, resulting in over $4 billion savings on crude imports bill. Last week, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India’s crude oil imports from Russia have risen to 12-13 percent of all its fuel shipments from about two percent in February.