The Associated Press reported on Friday that India’s state-run oil business purchased 3 million barrels of Russian crude this week, despite numerous other countries prohibiting such imports due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Despite worldwide pressure from the US and other Western countries to keep Russia out of the global energy market as a result of the incursion, Indian Oil Corp. made the purchase. India, the world’s most populous democracy, imports nearly 85% of the oil it consumes.
Iraq supplies the most oil to India, accounting for 27%, followed by Saudi Arabia (17%), the United Arab Emirates (13%), and the United States (9%).
Along with the United States’ energy import ban, the United States and much of Europe have already imposed harsh sanctions on Russia.
Indian purchases of Russian oil would not violate US sanctions, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, but Indian officials should “consider where [they] want to stand when history books are written.”
“The majority of India’s oil needs are met by imports. In the global energy market, we are looking into all possibilities. Russia has not been a major oil supplier to India, in my opinion “Arindam Bagchim, a spokesman for India’s External Affairs Ministry, confirmed the report.
The AP revelation comes only days after Reuters reported that Indian officials were considering buying Russian oil at a substantial price.
The government previously agreed to release 3.5 million barrels from its reserves as part of a coordinated release in response to international gas price hikes. India presently has approximately 31 million barrels of oil in its emergency reserves.
In 2020, India purchased the third-largest amount of crude oil of any country, totalling $64.6 billion. Only China ($176.3 billion) and the United States ($81.8 billion) import more than it.
