India comfortable near $70-a-barrel crude price

The current situation is good; if it comes down from $73-74 per barrel, it's even better. Hardeep Singh Puri Union minister for petroleum and natural gas

- Rituraj Baruah & Utpal Bhaskar

Mid uncertainties in the energy market in the past few years due to global tensions, Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, said there is a need to ensure predictability and stability in the oil market. At a time of persistent output cuts by the OPEC+ grouping, Puri said no single country can drive prices independently in the current scenario. Edited excerpts:

In the current geopolitical scenario with narrowing discounts from Russia, how is India placed vis-a-vis Russia, which has emerged as the top supplier due to its initial deep discounts?

Russia was producing the amount it is producing much before the Russia-Ukraine issue took place. When I was in Russia (in September 2021), our imports were 0.2%. Then it (the Russia-Ukraine conflict) did not start. I told them if your prices are correct, then we can buy more from you. They (Russia) are giving discounts. You have a certain supply. You have to sell it. You are talking about discounts, but still, we are buying about 34% from there.

Do you expect this to be in a $60-per-barrel kind of range?