External affairs minister S Jaishankar has said that India awaits a ‘Thank you’ for its role in stabilising global oil and gas markets through its strategic purchase policies amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
The minister made the remark during a conversation titled ‘How a billion people see the world’, hosted by the Indian high commission in London.
“So we’ve actually softened the oil markets and the gas markets through our purchase policies. We have, as a consequence, actually managed global inflation. I’m waiting for the thank you,” Jaishankar said.
The external affairs minister is right because of several reasons. Firstly, India is the third largest crude oil consumer in the world after the United States and China. While the US has its own energy resources, China has acquired various oil and gas assets across the world to ensure its energy security, even at times of geopolitical upheavals
India neither has domestic production nor a significant oil and gas assets abroad. The good assets are also in Russia (Sakhalin) and sanction-hit Venezuela (Corabobo).
India is the fastest growing major economy in the world and has surpassed the United Kingdom to become the 5th largest economy and aims to rise to the third spot by 2030
India imports more than 87.5% of its annual energy requirements. Had New Delhi relied on only traditional source of energy, particularly Middle East, the world would have faced acute supply crunch and Gulf-based suppliers would have raised prices on the simple principle of high demand and less supply. The oil prices, that largely remained below $100 per barrel, would have skyrocketed.
Thanks to India buying some crude from Russia, the international oil prices did not spike and on an average ranged between $85-95 a barrel. The countries backing sanctions also understand this dynamics, therefore they did not have any serious objection to India buying crude from Russia.
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