BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has tweeted shockingly quoting, “No more cheap Oil for India!” He has attacked the Narendra Modi government for buying Russian crude oil and called his own party a “Bankrupt Govt.”
Now Utin is quoted as saying: “No more cheap Oil for India”! China’s tutoring of the junior partner?
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) June 14, 2022
His ‘controversial’ tweets have left the media stunned and shocked. According to a Helsinki-based research agency, Indian refiners bought 18% of the crude Russian oil in May. Before Ukraine’s invasion, India bought 1% of crude Russian oil via Reliance Industries, Jamnagar refinery. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CRECA) said in their reports that after the invasion Russian crude oil imports into European Union reduced by 18% in May. They further said, “However, this reduction was taken up by India and the United Arab Emirates, leading to no net change in Russia’s crude oil export volumes.”
Mr. Swamy has been tweeting about the controversy regarding the price hike of petrol and diesel. In April Mr. Swamy reacted to a newspaper report and said, “Breaking International Humanitarian law of Democratic nations, Modi Govt has bought Russian crude, paying in rupees and using the margin saved as part of revenue of Govt..Bankrupt Govt!!” He wrote this when a tweeter user asked him about the sudden price hike of petrol.
Breaking International Humanitarian law of Democratic nations, Modi Govt has bought Russian crude, paying in rupees and using the margin saved as part of revenue of Govt.. Bankrupt Govt!!
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) April 28, 2022
Currently, reports say that Russia’s Rosneft is holding back on signing new crude oil deals with two Indian state refiners. Even though the Indian refiners have been buying cheap Russian oil which was banned by the western companies in response to the Russia-Ukraine war. Now, Rosneft might be pushing the Indian refiners to face the spot market to look for expensive oil. Indian refiners such as Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, and Hindustan Petroleum have been negotiating deals with Rosneft. Till now only IOC has been able to sign a deal with Rosneft to buy 6 million barrels of Russian oil every month with an option to buy 3 million more. Rosneft has been unable to sign any more deals with the other two Indian oil corporations.
Meanwhile, China has also boosted its purchases from Russia and Rosneft has awarded 6.66 million barrels to Asia’s top refiner Sinopec Corp. Sources also claim that Russian oil is no longer available at deep discounts.
