Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Chairman and CEO Arun Kumar Singh on Friday urged India to rethink its heavy dependence on the Middle East for oil and gas imports after the recent conflict in West Asia triggered a major energy shock.
Speaking at an energy security conclave organised by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, Singh said India should no longer assume that proximity to the Middle East guarantees easy access to energy supplies.
“Thinking that the Middle East is nearest to us and therefore all its resources can be accessed easily, we should take it with a pinch of salt,” he said.
India currently depends on the Middle East for nearly half of its crude oil imports, 30% of its gas, and 85-90% of its LPG.
The recent six-week conflict in West Asia shut the region’s main shipping route for oil, gas, and LPG exports, forcing countries including India to prioritise gas supplies.
Singh said the disruption showed that “a paradigm shift has happened” and warned that growing geopolitical tensions and de-globalisation could lead to more supply shocks in the future.
He said India must increase domestic production of oil and gas and expand strategic storage capacity to protect against future disruptions. “We should chase wherever oil or gas is in our country at any cost, because in a crisis nobody will help,” Singh said.
He described boosting domestic production as an “existential necessity”, particularly because India remains highly dependent on imports.
Singh also called for greater diversification in energy sources and storage. “We must diversify energy types. We must diversify our energy storage,” he said.
He said India had increased domestic LPG supply from 30% to 60%, though the shift had come at a cost. Singh also suggested greater use of Piped Natural Gas instead of Compressed Natural Gas for households so that kitchens would continue to function during supply disruptions.