Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has justified India's stand of importing crude oil from Russia, though the US had imposed sanctions on Russia after the war broke out between Ukraine and Russia.
Puri is in Abu Dhabi to attend the ADIPEC exhibition and conference.
 Explaining India's stand, Puri said, "Had we not imported crude from Russia, global crude prices would have touched to 200 $ per barrel . Because of India's timely intervention, the crude prices were kept in check. He also claimed that Russian was never under sanctions, there was only a price cap, which was followed by Indian entities.&nbsp;
 He has even predicted that oil prices will still fall, he is confident that by 2026, more energy will be available in the market that will stabilize crude oil prices, and there are higher chances that prices will still drop.&nbsp;
 After purchasing crude on large scale from Russia, the import has reduced by almost 10 percent in October, Puri's defence is that more players are available in the market ready to supply at competitive rates. &nbsp;In February 2022, Russia's &nbsp;33 million barrels oil was available, if that oil had gone off the market, India planned to buy 5 million barrels from suppliers of the Gulf, which could have pushed prices to 200 $ a barrel.
 In the coming years clean energy is going to contribute in a large way, which will change world oil demand in the next five years.&nbsp;

Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh with UAE's Energy and Industry Minister HE Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei

As global crude prices stabilized imports from Russia declined by 10%

Had India not bought crude oil from Russia, market would have upsurged

As global crude prices stabilized imports from Russia declined by 10%

November 8, 2024 | 16:15 IST