Buying discounted oil from Russia for country's interest: Nirmala Sitharaman
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New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that India will continue buying oil from Russia while the global community is opting out measures like sanctions and severing trades to exert pressure on Russia to withdraw its force from Ukraine.
Despite the US warning that the trade with Russia will only fuel the Ukraine invasion, India's decision to buy cheap oil from Russia is being seen a strong stand for the larger interest of the country.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday confirmed that the recent bought-oil from Russia could serve for 3 to 4 days and the purchase will continue to meet the country's requirement.
She is reportedly said that India had already made it stand clear in multiple international forums with regard to trade with Russia, adding that if there is fuel available at discounted rate when the crude price is higher in the international market, "my duty is to make it available for my countrymen."
"Nothing comes first than the nation and so to be country's energy security," Nirmala Sitharaman said, hinting that India will continue to buy oil from Russia on available means of payment system while the Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that it will only accept Roubles for oil sale.
Reportedly, India's oil purchasing from Russia on a particular payment system, dodging the US dollar annoyed the US, prompting US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to say "deeply disappointing".
Sources said that the discounted rate for Russian oil at the rate of $35 per barrel had been fixed even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. India's total requirement of oil is being met with 85 per cent of imports, of which about 3 per cent is ordinary procurement from Russia.
It is estimated that the present Russian oil which is said to be enough to serve for four days is about 2.1 million metric tonnes or about 16.1 million barrels of crude oil based on India's crude oil imports in FY2021.