As the conflict remains escalated in West Asia disrupting global crude oil supplies, Russia has offered to scale up supplies of oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) to India, said people familiar with the matter on Friday. The development comes after Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov met External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval in New Delhi.
Manturov, who also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday evening, has said that his country is ready to help India meet its requirements, while highlighting that Moscow has increased its supplies to New Delhi of in-demand mineral fertilisers by 40 per cent by 2025's end. Russia and India are also planning to expand their nuclear collaboration.
"Denis Manturov confirmed that Russian companies have the capacity to steadily increase supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas to the Indian market. Russia and India continue to strengthen their partnership in nuclear energy. In line with agreed schedules, the project to construct power units for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is being implemented," said the Russian Embassy in India in a statement on Telegram.
The disruption in global oil supplies
The conflict between the United States (US), Israel and Iran has disrupted the global oil supplies, with Tehran blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which is the narrow shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Through this critical chokepoint, nearly 20 per cent of global oil and LNG passes through.
Before the conflict started on February 28, India used to important around 60 per cent of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the Middle East. Of this, 90 per cent was brought through the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iran has repeatedly assured India that the Strait remains open for its vessels.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also held talks with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and reiterated that the conflict should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, while stressing that all hostilities should be stopped. The Indian government has also stressed that there is no shortage to energy supplies and urged people not to pay heed to rumours. "There is no shortage of petrol, diesel, or LPG anywhere in the country," said the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas last month.
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