Will buy Venezuela’s oil; India's energy security priority: Centre

New Delhi: As part of a broader approach to ensuring energy security, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a press conference on Thursday that it is ready to explore the commercial potential of new crude oil supply options, including from Venezuela.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that decisions on energy imports are taken keeping in mind India's long-term energy needs and commercial considerations.

“In so far as India’s energy security or energy sourcing is concerned, the government has stated publicly on several occasions that ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion Indians is its supreme priority. Diversifying energy sourcing in keeping with objective market conditions and evolving international dynamics is at the core of our strategy to ensure this. All of India’s decisions are taken and will continue to be taken with this objective in mind,” IANS quoted Jaiswal.

He said that India has a long-standing relationship with Venezuela in the energy sector, in terms of trade and investment, and Venezuela was one of India's major crude oil suppliers until the 2019-20 financial year, when imports were suspended due to international sanctions.

“As far as Venezuela is concerned, it has been a long-standing partner for us in the area of energy, both on the trade side and also on the investment side. We were importing energy or crude oil from Venezuela till 2019-20, and thereafter, we had to stop. Again, we started buying oil from Venezuela in 2023-2024, but had to stop because of the reimposition of sanctions,” Jaiswal stated.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that Indian public sector undertakings maintain a partnership with Venezuela's national oil company PDVSA and have been present in the country since 2008. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that they are ready to assess the feasibility of any new crude oil supply chain.