India ready to collaborate openly to build inclusive global energy future: Hardeep Singh Puri
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said India is ready to “collaborate openly” to build an inclusive global energy future. Speaking at a conference on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor here, Puri said IMEC represents India’s role as a global energy bridge. “India is ready to lead responsibly, collaborate openly and build sustainably as we build an inclusive global energy future,” he added. He said the IMEC is not just a transport corridor, but the initiative attempts a “rekindling” of the Golden Road, which was the primary travel corridor of the ancient world. India aims to integrate energy, trade and digital infrastructure while advancing clean energy solutions like undersea cables and hydrogen pipelines through the platform, the diplomat-turned-politician said. The country has diversified its energy sources and strengthened partnerships worldwide, even as it has been importing most of its crude oil, he said. The government is also boosting domestic energy production, promoting ethanol blending and leading in green hydrogen initiatives, the minister said. Puri said when he took charge of the ministry in 2021, India was consuming 5 million barrels of crude oil per day, which has risen to 5.5 million barrels, and added that the same is expected to reach 13.2 million barrels per day by 2050 as the economy grows. “India’s energy strategy reflects its economic ambition and imminent place in global leadership,” he said. Energy is not just an input for economic growth, it also reflects a nation’s confidence, ambition and long-term direction, he added.
Indian Oil agrees to five-year LNG deal with Trafigura, sources say
Indian Oil Corp , the country’s top refiner, has agreed to a five-year liquefied natural gas (LNG) import deal with trader Trafigura, with prices linked to the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark, three trade sources said on Wednesday. Trafigura will supply three to four LNG cargoes this year and six cargoes annually from next year, said one of the sources. No immediate comment was available from Trafigura and Indian Oil. India is looking to raise its imports of U.S. energy to fix its trade balance with the world’s top economy and traders are looking to reroute some of the LNG meant for China into India, one of the sources said. India is the world’s fourth-largest LNG importer, shipping in 26.58 million metric tons of the fuel last year, according to Kpler data. The U.S. is India’s second-biggest supplier but the two sides are looking to ramp up volumes for India’s energy-hungry economy, one of the fastest growing in the world. Reuters reported in March that India is considering a proposal to scrap import taxes on U.S. LNG to boost purchases and cut its trade surplus with Washington. LNG importer GAIL India had also recently issued a tender seeking a stake in an LNG project in the U.S., along with a 15-year import deal.
BPCL gives Sanjay Khanna additional charge of CMD
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has given Sanjay Khanna the additional charge of the company’s chairman and managing director. Khanna is currently director (refineries) in the state-run company. He is a chemical engineering graduate from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli, and a postgraduate in finance management from Mumbai University. Khanna has more than three decades of experience in refinery operations and technical services. He has anchored several projects for setting up processing units in Mumbai, Kochi and Numaligarh refineries, according to a BPCL statement. Prior to becoming director (refineries), Khanna headed the Kochi and Mumbai refineries of BPCL. He also serves as a director on the boards of Bharat Petro Resources Ltd and Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. Khanna is also the chairperson of the ‘Technical Committee for petroleum refineries’ under the petroleum ministry.
Indian Oil Corporation says not in talks for term crude import deal with Russia
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation’s largest oil firm, is not discussing a term or fixed quantity deal for import of Russian oil given the volatility in the international market, Chairman A S Sahney said on Wednesday. India’s import of Russian oil has surged since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022. Russia was India’s top crude oil supplier for the third consecutive year in 2024-25, primarily driven by attractive discounts on Russian crude. The discounts, which have narrowed since, offset the logistical challenges and longer shipping times associated with sourcing oil from Russia. Sahney said the share of Russian oil in the basket of oil that IOC imports for refining into fuels like petrol and diesel, has come down to 22-23 per cent from 30 per cent. “It has to meet my requirements and also be commercially viable,” he told reporters here. The crude, he said, has to fit into the company’s rigorous optimisation model which looks at producing the fuel that market wants from the most economically available source. “It has to make commercial sense for me to import oil from a particular source,” he said, adding the decision is not driven by sanctions or any other geopolitical issue.
HPCL and ADNOC Trading sign LNG supply agreement to strengthen energy cooperation
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has entered into a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) supply agreement with ADNOC Trading, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). The agreement is part of ongoing efforts to enhance energy cooperation between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under the agreement, ADNOC Trading will supply LNG to HPCL, which will be received at the recently commissioned Chhara LNG Terminal in Gujarat. The terminal is operated by HPCL LNG Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of HPCL. It has a regasification capacity of 5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) and a total LNG storage capacity of 400,000 cubic meters across two storage tanks. The LNG will be used to meet HPCL’s internal energy requirements and will also be marketed to downstream customers. This supply arrangement supports HPCL’s strategy to diversify its LNG sourcing portfolio and enhance supply security. The agreement also reflects the growing trade and energy ties between India and the UAE, aligning with India’s broader energy transition goals that include expanding the use of cleaner fuels like natural gas.
Is Saudi Arabia Preparing for Another Oil Price War?
US benchmark WTI crude is down nearly 4% as Saudi Arabia reports emerge that not only can the Saudis sustain today’s low oil prices, but output increases are likely to be announced next week, for June output, sources speaking to both Reuters and Bloomberg have indicated. On Wednesday, Reuters cited five unnamed sources as saying that the Saudis have no intention of boosting oil markets with further supply cuts, as Riyadh’s budget can tolerate sustained low prices. On the contrary, sources are suggesting that the Saudis could start producing more to grab more market share after sacrificing production for OPEC+ voluntary cuts for so long. Additionally, Bloomberg on Wednesday cited oil traders as saying they expect the Saudis to now push the cartel for another supply boost next week for June, and that this time it will be exponentially larger. “History shows that when OPEC+ leadership decides to encourage compliance by supply pressure, it does not stop until it achieves its goal,” Bloomberg quoted Bob McNally, president and founder of Rapidan Energy Advisers LLC and a former White House energy official, as saying on Wednesday. Earlier this month, OPEC+ announced it would advance the cartel’s planned phase-out of voluntary oil output cuts by ramping up output by 411,000 barrels per day in May–equivalent to three monthly increments. That move was our first indication that the Saudis may be prepared to give up their role as swing producer, having for too long picked up the slack for OPEC+ quota violators who continue to overproduce, including Kazakhstan, the UAE and Iraq. Traders are also eyeing geopolitical motivations here, according to Bloomberg, with the Saudis attempting to appease Washington, which has called on OPEC to intervene to lower fuel costs by pumping even more. At 1:31 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Brent crude was trading at $63.14, down 1.79%, while the U.S. crude benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), was trading down a sharp 3.53%, to trade at $58.29.
Saudi Signals and Trump Tariffs Are Cracking the Oil Market
Low inventories reported today by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) did nothing to staunch the bleeding, with WTI getting gutted nearly 4% on the day, and Saudi rumors throwing another spanner in the works, while new U.S. economic data suggests more pain is in store for the sector. Three weeks ago, eight OPEC+ countries unveiled plans to phase-out their voluntary oil output cuts by ramping up output in May by 411,000 barrels per day–equivalent to three monthly increments. The announcement came at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump announced tariffs on more than 90 countries across the globe, roiling oil markets. The eight OPEC+ countries are due to meet on 5 May to discuss production levels for June, just days after Washington released a worrying economic report. The U.S. economy shrank at an annualized 0.3% clip in the first quarter, marking the first contraction in three years, due to surging imports as companies rushed to stock up before Trump’s 90-day pause on elevated tariffs comes to an end. That’s a sharp turnaround in fortunes compared to the final quarter of 2024 when the economy expanded by 2.4%. Further, reports on Wednesday indicated that Saudi Arabia is planning to push for increased production during the May 5th meeting, and it will most likely get its way, with Riyadh reportedly saying it could easily sustain lower oil prices for a longer period. And now commodity analysts at Standard Chartered have predicted the weakness in oil markets is likely to persist thanks to U.S. tariff policy despite oil inventories remaining low. According to the latest weekly report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. oil inventories remain low, with the deficit in combined U.S. crude oil, distillate and gasoline inventories below the five-year average widening to 47.4 million barrels (mb). The deficit has now more than doubled over the past three weeks to the widest in 20 months. StanChart’s proprietary U.S. oil data bull-bear index is currently ‘highly bullish’ (i.e., in the strongest 15% of all data releases since 2013)–for three weeks in a row. StanChart notes that the last time a run of data was this strong was in early 2022, helped by strong tailwinds from pandemic recovery. Whereas complete OECD inventory data comes with more of a lag, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has noted that February was the sixth consecutive month of draws, with inventories at their lowest since September 2022. Tight prompt conditions are also evident in oil futures markets, with Brent spreads remaining firmly backwardated for all but brief periods over the past year. StanChart notes that oil-price swings lower normally start from a position of oversupply and rising inventories; however, the fact that the current weakness has coincided with low and falling inventories is a strong signal that the oil market thinks U.S. economic policy coupled with Iraqi and Kazakh supply policy are both potentially unusually disruptive events for medium-term balances. Previously, we reported that Kazakhstan’s crude output hit a record high of 2.12 million barrels per day in February, good for a large 13% increase from January volumes and well above its OPEC+ quota of 1.468 million bpd. For the May meeting, StanChart says the default option is to proceed as per the schedule with a single month’s increment (about 138 kb/d). However, StanChart says a further acceleration in output is warranted, with low inventories leaving scope to add to short-term supply. Whereas the latest Kazakh compensation schedule is more front-loaded than the previous one with the total amount of compensation 43% higher, the commodity experts note that the challenge for Kazakhstan so far has been to deliver any compensation at all. Kazakh government statements over the past week have varied from stating that cuts are impossible to saying that they are still policy. It’s highly doubtful that Kazakhstan has yet managed to rebuild sufficient trust from its partners in the OPEC+ eight, leaving the option of accelerated production increases very much on the table. Meanwhile, the European Union has kicked off the injection season on a strong footing, with gas inventories rising faster than last year for the past 11 days and even faster than the five-year average on 13 of the past 16 days. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) data, EU gas inventories clocked in at 44.72 billion cubic metres (bcm) on 27 April, with the w/w build of 1.9 bcm being 25% more than the five-year average build. However, inventories are now 26.67 bcm lower y/y and 11.68 bcm below the five-year average. Europe’s gas storage is currently at 38.4% full, much lower than 61% at this time last year. Europe’s gas prices have continued falling, with natural gas futures falling below €32 per megawatt hour, near a nine-month low.