Davos:
Any further sanctions against Russia will not have any impact on India’s crude oil requirements and the global prices should remain stable in the USD 75-80 per barrel range, as all sanction fears have already been factored in, Indian Oil Chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney said on Thursday.
Speaking to PTI here during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, he also said there are several energy sources that can be tapped to meet India’s energy requirements in case of any eventuality.
Asked about the Indian participation at Davos, Mr Sahney said it feels great to see India with a big presence here.
“It helps as so many global corporates we can meet here at a single place. We can exchange ideas with all of them, and that’s good for the company and economy as a whole,” he added.
On Donald Trump’s second US presidency and its impact on India, he said it should be positive for the energy sector because “he has emphasised that we have to produce more energy and we are not averse to more energy sources. It is always better to have more and more energy sources”.
India imports nearly 87 per cent of crude oil, and if the country gets more than one source, it would be better, he said.
On fears that Trump can impose more sanctions on Russia if the war doesn’t stop, he said it would not have any major impact.
“Before the Ukraine war started, India used to get less than 2 per cent oil from Russia. After the war started and Russia was not allowed to sell to Europe etc, we started getting more from Russia.
“If that goes down due to sanctions, we have other sources to compensate for that. We have not left our other sources, whether they are in the Gulf, OPEC, OPEC-plus, the US, Guyana or Brazil,” he added.
Also, he said, there are new non-OPEC countries, and there is no dearth of crude oil.
“What price we will get, what would be quantity and how the transportation will happen, we will look into all of that, but I can assure you that there won’t be any impact on availability or the energy security of the country,” the IOC chief said.
On what impact it can have on global crude prices, Mr Sahney said there should not be much effect on global prices.
When the sanctions were first imposed, the prices had gone up to USD 83 per barrel, but it has come down slowly in the last 5-7 days, and now, it is around USD 79, he explained.
“All the concerns were already factored in…and my personal assessment is that it will be in the range of USD 75-80,” he said.
On budget expectations, he said the support needed from the government for the energy sector is already there, and there is no further specific demand as of now. “Whatever specific support we need, we are already getting, and we do not think there would be anything negative for us in the budget,” he noted.
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