Israel war will not lead to shortage of fuel in India: Centre
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri allayed fears over any disruption in oil supplies to Indian consumers due to the Israel-Iran war and further escalation in geopolitical tensions in the Middle East because of the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites.
“We have been closely monitoring the evolving geopolitical situation in the Middle East since the past two weeks. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have diversified our supplies in the past few years, and a large volume of our supplies does not come through the Strait of Hormuz now,” the minister said.
He pointed out that the country’s oil marketing companies (Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum) have supplies for several weeks and continue to receive energy supplies from several routes.
“We will take all necessary steps to ensure the stability of supplies of fuel to our citizens,” the minister assured.
Iran is situated on the northern side of the Strait of Hormuz/Persian Gulf, through which 20 million barrels of oil per day flow from major exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Iran had threatened to block this route if the US intervened in the conflict with Israel.