Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told that India maintains a “healthy dialogue” with Russia and will consider an offer after the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project is announced to restore ownership. is done
Russia last week issued a decree allowing it to take over a 30% stake in Exxon Mobil and giving a Russian state-owned company the power to decide whether foreign shareholders, including India’s ONGC Videsh, should go ahead with the project. I can maintain my participation.
“We will see what the state of play is and what the offer is,” Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told in an interview after meetings with US oil executives in Houston on Monday.
Puri said India was “actively monitoring” Saudi Arabia’s Asian premium on oil prices after OPEC+ last week agreed to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day from next month.
“At the end of the day, consumers start to play their part in creating these situations,” he said, referring to the global energy balance and the “unintended consequences” of the OPEC+ decision. Too high oil prices can fuel inflation and damage the global economy. In a recession, demand for oil declines, he added.
Regarding the EU’s proposed price ceiling on Russian oil purchases, he suggested that it was not yet firm. “If the Europeans come up with a plan, let’s see how it develops,” he said.
Puri met with US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Energy Security Adviser Amos Hochstein in Washington this week, where they discussed cooperation on biofuels and clean energy in addition to energy security.
“At no stage were we ever told not to buy Russian oil,” he said, referring to talks with officials on global energy supplies.
In Houston, he met with executives from ExxonMobil, oilfield service provider Baker Hughes, and liquefied natural gas producers after bidding for offshore oil and gas exploration areas.
Puri added that India is interested in the technical expertise of US companies in offshore production, ethanol and sulfur recovery in oil refineries.
“To have green energy, you have to live in the present,” he said.
He said that talks are also underway for joint ventures with Guyana, Brazil and Colombia and additional supply of crude oil to Indian refiners.
