We Are Smart Enough To Have Multiple Options: EAM Jaishankar On Russian Oil Import

If we have multiple options for oil import then we are smart enough to have multiple options, you should be admiring me, Minister of External Affairs, S Jaishankar said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. The minister was answering a question on Russian oil imports. 

The 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC) got underway an in-person event from 16-18 February, at its traditional venue, the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, according to an official statement.

While defending India’s stand and its oil imports from Russia, Jaishankar said that it’s very hard to have a unidimensional relationship and the different countries and different relationships have different histories.

When asked about the BRICS and the rise of middle powers, the minister said, “The BRICS started in an era where Western dominance was very strong and if you look at it, it’s a very interesting group because it’s geographically as disparate as it can be. Yet it is bound by the fact that these discussions we have had over a decade and a half have been very useful for all of us.” 

It’s important to make a distinction between being non-West and anti-West. I would certainly characterise India as a non-West country with an extremely strong relationship with Western countries getting better day-by-day, he added. 

Russia accounted for over 35 per cent of India’s total crude imports in 2023, amounting to approximately 1.7 million barrels per day, according to data from S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Last year, Russia's oil exports, according to reports, reached the highest level since April 2020 in physical terms in March 2023 due to an increase in supplies of oil products, while export revenues rose by USD 1 billion compared with February to USD 12.7 billion, according to TASS, a Russian news agency.

Russia’s supplies by sea grew by 0.6 million barrels per day to 8.1 mn barrels per day, the agency said, adding that deliveries of petroleum products rose by 450,000 barrels per day month-on-month to 3.1 million barrels per day.