"India's Crude Oil Supplies Are Secure": Hardeep Puri Amid Middle East Crisis

India's crude supply position is secure, declared Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri in parliament on Thursday, adding this is not the moment for "rumour mongering", taking a swipe at the Opposition. 

"The world has not faced a moment like this in modern energy history... India's crude supply position is secure, and the volume secured exceeds what the Hormuz would have delivered," the Minister said. 

The Middle East war is creating the biggest oil supply shock in history, the International Energy Agency warned Thursday, as Iran launched a new wave of attacks against Gulf energy targets that sent prices spiking above $100 a barrel.

The conflict, which was triggered on February 28 by American-Israeli attacks on Iran, is hampering the global economy's supply of oil and weakening production capacity.

The Paris-based IEA, a world authority on energy markets, said the 13-day conflict "is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market", which would surpass those of the 1970s. The Gulf states' total oil output is down by at least 10 million barrels per day and there were "no signs of a de-escalation in hostilities," it added.

The war has seen Iran tighten its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global crude passes, effectively all but shutting it down.

"Before the crisis, approximately 45% of India's crude imports transited through the Strait of Hormuz route. Thanks to the Prime Minister's outstanding diplomatic outreach and goodwill, India has secured crude volumes that exceed what the disrupted state of Hormuz could have delivered in the same period," Hardeep Puri said.

The Minister asserted that LPG production has increased by 28% and that the domestic supply is fully protected. 

"In the last five days, LPG production has been increased by 28% through refinery directives and further procurement is actually underway. The Modi government's foremost priority is that the kitchen of India's 33 crore families, especially the poor and the underprivileged, do not face any shortage. Domestic supply is fully protected and the delivery cycle is unchanged," the Minister stressed.

The Minister said that even in the event of a prolonged conflict, power generation for every household is fully protected with procurement has been diversified, with cargoes coming in from US, Canada, among others.  

"Large LNG cargoes are arriving on an almost daily basis through alternative supply routes. India has sufficient gas production and supply arrangements to sustain this position even in the event of a prolonged conflict. Power generation for every household and for industry is fully protected...Procurement has now been actively diversified with cargoes being secured from the United States, Norway, Canada, Algeria and Russia," he said.

He further underlined that the "refineries are operating at high capacity utilisation". 

"In several cases, they are exceeding 100%. There is no shortage of petrol, diesel, kerosene, ATF or fuel oil. The availability of petrol, diesel, aviation, turbine fuel, kerosene and fuel oil is fully assured," he said.

The Minister said that "non-Hormuz sourcing has risen to approximately 70 % of crude imports, up from 55% before the conflict began. 

India's sources, the minister said, grew from 40 countries as against 27 in 2006 and 2007. 

"This structural diversification built through sustained policy over successive years has given us options that other nations find themselves without," he said.