New Delhi: India is tapping the United States to secure marine cover for vessels to ferry oil from the Middle East as it looks for continuity in energy supplies beyond its current stockpile, a top oil ministry official said.
The country has stocks in tanks, pipelines and ships in transit to meet 25 days’ requirement of crude oil — the raw material for making fuels like petrol and diesel — and a similar number of days’ stock of finished fuel.
The widening war in West Asia has disrupted tanker movement through the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow sea lane that carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil and large volumes of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
He also said the U.S. Navy could begin escorting vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping lane between Iran and Oman through which around a fifth of global oil and gas supplies normally pass.
India, the world’s third biggest oil importer, relies on the Middle East for about 40% of its oil imports and about 85-90% of LPG imports.
The official said India is looking at buying oil from all sources, including Russia, to replenish crude stocks. Indian refiners had reduced Russian oil intake to help New Delhi clinch a trade deal with Washington.
India has already increased imports of oil and cooking fuel LPG from the United States.
Washington is willing to work with India to make sure India’s energy needs are met “in the short term as well as the long term,” said Christopher Landau, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, at the Raisina Dialogue summit in New Delhi.
“We are an energy-rich country, you know, we want to cooperate with you, that is one of the areas where we can cooperate obviously,” he said.
Due to lower energy supplies from the Middle East region, India’s Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd has suspended refined fuel exports and shut some units at its refinery.
Several Indian companies have cut gas supplies to industries after production was halted by Qatar, India’s largest LNG supplier. The official said the government could “reprioritise” gas allocation to ensure no sector is closed down if the supply situation worsens.
