SINGAPORE — India’s imports of Russian crude is a win-win state of affairs for the world economic system, based on India’s No. 1 oil firm, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

“By importing from Russia, India also has helped the global economy in the sense that [we] freed up some oil on the Gulf for other countries to source, particularly Europe. So it was kind of a win-win situation,” Ok.C. Ramesh, government director of ONGC mentioned on the annual APPEC power convention held by S&P Global Insights in Singapore.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February final yr, India’s refiners have been snapping up discounted Russian oil. Moscow has since leapfrogged to turn out to be India’s main supply of crude oil, accounting for about 40% of India’s crude imports. 

World powers, together with the European Union and the Group of seven, have positioned sanctions and restrictions on Russia’s oil exports since its unprovoked struggle on Ukraine.

India’s economic system has benefited from the discounted costs, Ramesh mentioned.

“[It has] a very huge impact on our economy, in terms of helping the [Indian] economy grow … the price being very reasonable that we get from Russia,” mentioned Ramesh. 

India’s buy of low cost Russian crude has been broadly criticized by the West. In May, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell urged the bloc to crack down on India reselling refined Russian oil into Europe.

India is the world’s third largest energy importer, and buys more than 80% of its crude oil from worldwide markets. According to July information from S&P Global, India’s crude oil sources come largely from the Middle East and Russia.

“God has given India a lot of things … but no resources,” mentioned Fereidun Fesharaki, chairman of power consultancy Facts Global Energy mentioned at a separate panel dialogue.

“Limited amount of oil, and limited amounts of gas,” he mentioned.

That mentioned, India can also be investing in upstream alternatives within the oil trade.

“We are planning to have few investments in survey and exploration,” Ramesh mentioned, citing an funding of about $44 billion for the following three years.

The upstream section of the oil and fuel trade refers back to the exploration for oil or fuel deposits, after which extracting them.

“We need fuel. And that’s what we’re planning to go for. So the investments are going to be there, for sure.”