India To Launch Oil And Gas Licensing Rounds
India is set to launch new rounds for oil and gas block licensing this week, Oil Minister Hardeep S. Puri announced on Monday. Puri also indicated that energy supply issues are expected to be a key topic during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming meeting with US President Trump later this week. Given India’s increasing demand for crude oil and natural gas, discussions may focus on securing long-term energy partnerships and exploring new avenues for collaboration between the two nations. “I will be surprised if sourcing of energy will not figure during the discussion,” Puri said. The United States has emerged as a major supplier of crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India in recent years, and any agreements or commitments made during the talks could have wider implications for global energy markets.
India importing crude from 40 countries; Argentina is new supplier: Hardeep Puri
Petroleum minister Hardeep Puri on Monday said that India is open to importing crude oil from all possible sources to meets its demand. Addressing a press conference a day ahead of the India Energy Week 2025, the Union minister recalled how India diversified its crude imports from 27 countries to 40 countries. Argentina is the new addition, he told reporters. “From 27 suppliers, we have now 40 suppliers. We added another Argentina the other day. So we’ve got imports from 40 countries,” he said. The imports from those suppliers though vary based on price advantage or in some instance because of proximity advantage. US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Iraq are among the big suppliers of crude to India. “It’s a very dynamic situation, but we are open to imports from all sources,” he added. India depends on imports for over 80 per cent of its crude oil requirement. Various steps have been taken by the government to increase the production of domestic crude oil and bring down imports. The government is promoting usage of natural gas as fuel/feedstock across the country towards increasing the share of natural gas in economy and moving towards gas based economy, promotion of renewable and alternate fuels like ethanol, second generation ethanol, compressed bio gas and biodiesel.