With no dearth of crude, India can survive the transition to green energy, says Hardeep Singh Puri
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday, said the transition from fossil fuel to green energy was possible only when one survives the present scenario. While India is making steady steps towards green energy, fossil fuel, particularly crude oil, was available in the international market for survival now, he said. Mr. Puri was speaking at the ‘Energy for Survival-Security and Climate’ debate at the Mangaluru Lit Fest here. Stating that India’s dependence on fossil fuel was growing with about 85% dependence on imports, the Minister noted the situation would continue till the country explores crude on its own. Dependence on gas was about 50%, he said. At the same time, there was no shortage of crude oil, he argued, and said crude also comes from non-OPEC (the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries). The Western hemisphere has abundant crude with Brazil putting out about 300 million barrels per day and even the U.S. producing about 13 million barrels. There were other countries, including Russia, Guyana, Suriname, etc., producing crude. Speaking on sustainability, Mr. Puri said India would blend biofuel with petrol by 20% from 2025-26 itself instead of the earlier target of 2030. While the country has demonstrated its ability to produce solar energy, it was also confident of achieving the 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen target. Compressed Biogas Plants and Compressed Natural Gas plants would be increased to achieve sustainability, he said. Mr. Puri said with about 67 million people, of 1.4 billion population in the country fill fuel at retail outlets everyday. India’s consumption of crude was set to increase to 7 million barrels per day from the present 5 million. Yet, a quarter of the global growth would come from India in about 20 years. “We have to plan for tomorrow and remain insulated against possible upheavals and disruption,” he said.
US Imposes Sweeping Sanctions on Russia’s Oil and Gas
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration imposed its broadest package of sanctions so far targeting Russia’s oil and gas revenues on Friday, in an effort to give Kyiv and Donald Trump’s incoming team leverage to reach a deal for peace in Ukraine. The move is meant to cut Russia’s revenues for continuing the war in Ukraine that has killed more than 12,300 civilians and reduced cities to rubble since Moscow invaded in February, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a post on X that the measures announced on Friday will “deliver a significant blow” to Moscow. “The less revenue Russia earns from oil … the sooner peace will be restored,” Zelenskiy added. Daleep Singh, a top White House economic and national security adviser, said in a statement that the measures were the “most significant sanctions yet on Russia’s energy sector, by far the largest source of revenue for (President Vladimir) Putin’s war”. The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, which explore for, produce and sell oil as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil, many of which are in the so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers operated by non-Western companies. The sanctions also include networks that trade the petroleum. Many of those tankers have been used to ship oil to India and China as a price cap imposed by the Group of Seven countries in 2022 has shifted trade in Russian oil from Europe to Asia. Some tankers have shipped both Russian and Iranian oil. The Treasury also rescinded a provision that had exempted the intermediation of energy payments from sanctions on Russian banks. The sanctions should cost Russia billions of dollars per month if sufficiently enforced, another U.S. official told reporters in a call. “There is not a step in the production and distribution chain that’s untouched and that gives us greater confidence that evasion is going to be even more costly for Russia,” the official said. Gazprom Neft said the sanctions were unjustified and illegitimate and it will continue to operate.
Government partially restores gas supply to IGL, Adani-Total
The government has increased cheaper gas supply to city gas retailers IGL, Adani-Total, and Mahanagar Gas, restoring a major part of the allocation that was cut in 2024, according to regulatory filings by the companies. The government, in October and November last year, had cut supplies of the so-called APM Gas (low-priced natural gas coming from old fields such as Mumbai High and Bassein fields in the Bay of Bengal) to city gas retailers by as much as 40 per cent in view of limited output. This led to city gas retailers hiking CNG prices by Rs 2-3 per kg and planning more increases as they replaced lost volumes with higher-priced input fuel. The price hike made CNG less attractive when compared to alternate fuels like diesel.
Iraq, UAE gain as India’s Russian oil imports slip to 12-month low in Dec amid Moscow’s high domestic demand
India’s crude oil imports from West Asia—specifically Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—surged in December with Indian refiners looking to replace the shortfall in supplies from their largest source market Russia, which cut exports to meet heightened oil demand from its domestic refineries, shows an analysis of oil tanker data. Saudi Arabia, however, was unable to capitalise on the opportunity due to its barrels being priced higher than Iraqi and Emirati oil. ding to industry watchers, domestic oil demand in Russia jumps towards the end of the year as the country’s refineries come out of the autumn refinery maintenance season and start clocking high capacity utilisation levels. The seasonally high demand for crude in Russia is expected to continue in January and a couple of subsequent months, which is likely to cap Russian oil exports and push India towards other key suppliers to bridge the supply gap. In December, India’s imports of Russian crude dropped nearly 17 per cent sequentially to 1.48 million barrels per day (bpd), the lowest monthly level in 2024, per vessel tracking data from commodity market analytics form Kpler. Russia’s market share in India’s import basket in December contracted to 31.5 per cent from 38 per cent in November. India’s total oil imports in December were at 4.71 million bpd, up 0.5 per cent month-on-month. “The lack of Russian medium sour (crude) grades has been a boon for Iraq as India needed to find grades that would be similar in quality to Urals (Russia’s flagship crude grade) and could be tapped into relatively quickly. As a consequence, Iraqi imports hit their highest since March,” said Viktor Katona, head of crude analysis at Kpler.