NEW DELHI, May 16. /TASS/. Cooperation between India and Russia, particularly in the energy sector, remains robust and continues to expand despite global instability, Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri told TASS.
"I could only describe cooperation between India and Russia as excellent overall. In terms of energy, I think the numbers speak for themselves. If you look at the current levels of purchases of crude oil, Russia would account for over 30% of overall Indian import," he said.
Puri stated that even amid global turbulence, India’s imports of Russian oil have not declined. "If you trace geopolitical turbulence to six months back or, you know, five, four months back, our imports of Russian energy have not declined. In fact, they have gone up a little. So, I think that the strength of the Russian-Indian relationship is that it stands on its own," he added
The minister also emphasized that India always prioritizes competitiveness when selecting energy suppliers and Russian oil has been and remains highly competitive
India is the world’s third-largest oil consumer and remains heavily dependent on imports, which account for over 85% of its oil consumption. Indian refineries purchase crude oil from more than 30 countries, including Russia.