Fuel stocks sufficient for now: Oil minister
As the crisis in West Asia deepens affecting global oil supplies, India allayed apprehensions of fuel shortages. On Tuesday, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri said India has enough fuel reserves to deal with short term disruptions and has crude oil stocks to last 25 days.
India is the third largest importer, fourth largest refiner, and fifth largest exporter of petroleum products globally. Officials assured that there is no immediate plan to increase petrol and diesel prices.
“At present, the Government is reasonably comfortable in terms of stocks. Safeguarding the interests of Indian consumers remains the highest priority,” Puri said at a press briefing.Top officials said contingency plans — including using stockpile in strategic petroleum reserves, commercial stocks, and diversified sourcing from the US, Russia, West Africa, and Latin America — will ensure continuity even if the crisis lasts longer.
According to officials present at the briefing, the Government is monitoring the situation ‘on a daily and hourly basis’ and is confident of navigating through the crisis that by some estimates may last a week or 10 days. While immediate shortages are unlikely, rising crude prices and higher freight and insurance costs could impact India’s import bill and inflation.
“We are in a reasonably comfortable situation,” the officials added. The official said India was looking to import LPG even before the Iran crisis broke out last weekend. An issue with the pipeline in Saudi Arabia, the principal supplier of LPG to India, had created a deficit of 120,000 tonnes. “There are a large number of producers, and we are tapping them,” they said.
India spent $137 billion on crude oil imports in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. During April 2025 to January 2026 — the first ten months of the current fiscal year — it spent $100.4 billion on imports of 206.3 million tonnes of crude oil.
