India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said Russia is “one of the largest crude producers with over 9 million barrels/day,” and argued that if this oil—“amounting to about 10% of the global oil supply of around 97 million”—had “vanished from the market,” prices “would’ve spiralled to over $120–130.”
He stated that “Russian oil was never under global sanctions” and that “sensible decision makers around the world were aware of the realities of global oil supply chains and how India was only helping the global markets by buying discounted oil under a price cap from wherever we could.”
Addressing criticism, he said “some commentators who do not have an understanding of the dynamics of energy markets pass unnecessary judgements on our policies,” adding that India, “...has been a net positive contributor to global energy price stability,” while “successfully navigated the trilemma of energy availability, affordability and sustainability.”
On domestic pricing, he said “India continues to provide clean cooking gas to our 330 million households at the lowest prices in the world,” and reported “universal clean cooking to more than 103 million beneficiary families of PMUjjwala Scheme at just 0.4 dollars/kg or just 7–8 cents/day.”