THE RUSSIAN ROULETTE: INDIA FACES A DOUBLE WHAMMY—EITHER RISK U.S. IRE BY CONTINUING TO BUY RUSSIAN OIL OR INFLATE ITS OIL IMPORT BILL BY RETURNING TO TRADITIONAL SUPPLIERS

AS GLOBAL GEOPOLITICS reshapes energy trade routes, India finds itself walking a delicate tightrope—balancing its economic advantage from cheap Russian crude with the diplomatic demands of the West.

- BY P.B. JAYAKUMAR

India's energy partnership with Russia is not a new phenomenon. In 2019, a consortium of state oil firms made two major upstream investments in Siberia and the Arctic. ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Oil India Ltd, and BPCL's Bharat PetroResources Ltd (BPRL) jointly bought a 49.9% stake in Vankorneft for $4.2 billion. Around the same time, Oil India, BPRL, and IOC invested $3.6 billion in Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha, subsidiaries of Russia's Rosneft.

These followed OVL's earlier stakes—$1.6 billion in Sakhalin-1 (2001) and $2.6 billion for Imperial Energy (2009). Collectively, India's public sector upstream companies have invested over $12 billion in Russia's oil and gas sector.

These ventures generated solid income. That was until the Russia-Ukraine war. Tightened sanctions and disrupted financial flow saw Indian companies struggling to repatriate profits. For many, the money has been stuck in Russian accounts for over two years, say sources.

The challenge grew sharper after the EU, the U.K., and the U.S. imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia's energy sector.