There is a parallel strategic war to the Russia-Ukraine war that is underway. This strategic war between the western bloc of nations and Russia is like a game of chess, where the western nations want to debilitate Russia’s resources to fight Ukraine but they are also trying to minimise the risks arising out of dependency on Russian oil for the world. The world needs Russia’s oil. And Russia needs money from its oil to fight the war. But the world does not want to give Russia the money it needs. How does one resolve this quandary in the short term? That is the strategic war.India taking advantage
Amid all this, India has been a prolific buyer of Russian oil ever since the war in Ukraine started. Making Russia its biggest supplier of oil, India buys 10 times more oil than it did before the war. According to Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India has paid Russia nearly $20 billion for oil in just seven months from April to October, more than what it paid in the last ten years combined. The western nations seem helplessly enraged at India’s hypocrisy of making platitudinal remarks against Russia, for engaging in a war while also financing it. India claims that it is in the nation’s interest to take advantage of cheaper Russian oil and buy large quantities
When India claims it is buying cheaper Russian oil in the nation’s interests, one would expect the people of India to benefit from it. For the average Indian, the price of petrol or diesel has remained unchanged. The price of diesel in Delhi before the war started was Rs 87 and the current price is Rs 90. The government may argue that the prices have not increased for the common man due to cheaper Russian oil. That is a half-truth.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO ASK WHO IN INDIA IS BUYING RUSSIAN OIL.
Nearly three-quarters of cheap Russian oil is bought by private refiners, Reliance Industries and Russian controlled Nayara Energy. These companies buy the cheaper oil, refine it and sell it back at a big markup to European nations. Nearly one-third of Reliance’s crude oil purchase is now from Russia, which was only at 5 per cent before the war began. This also means that public sector refiners such as Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are getting only a small share of the Russian oil. But these public refiners are the ones that supply more than 90 per cent of the average Indian’s fuel needs. So, the companies that refine and export to other nations garner the bulk of cheaper Russian oil imports vis-à-vis companies that supply fuel to the common man. It is no surprise that the average Indian has not been able to reap the benefits of cheaper Russian oil imports while private refiners are reaping record profits.
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