New Delhi: India shielded consumers from the supply shock caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this year through diversified sourcing, expanded refining capacity and higher domestic output, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday, as he set out the government's wider strategy for strengthening energy security.
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Speaking at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Puri said India had stopped viewing energy security purely as a question of access to hydrocarbons, pointing to diversified imports, strategic partnerships, infrastructure expansion and alternative fuels as the pillars of its approach.
"Today, I think we are in the happy situation of being able to say that, as far as India is concerned, we have moved on from that," he said.
Puri said India had kept fuel supplies uninterrupted despite the disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy transit route affected by the Iran war. Before the war, India imported as much as half its crude oil from countries that use the strait as a transit route, while 90 percent of its cooking gas (LPG) and 60 percent of its gas imports passed through it. Those flows were disrupted, but India diversified its sources to avert any shortfall.
"I can say with a degree of confidence, not one station went dry, not one," Puri said, referring to the country's network of more than 1,07,000 fuel retail outlets.
According to Puri, India widened its crude supply base from 27 to 41 countries, grew its fuel retail network from about 52,000 outlets in 2014 to around 1,07,000 now, and expanded city gas distribution coverage from 55 geographical areas to 309. Domestic LPG production was raised, he said, to make up for reduced imports from Gulf suppliers hit by the disruption.
"We never ran short of crude oil supplies. We always had about 60 days (cover); there was no shortage," he said.
Puri said the US had become India's biggest LPG supplier since the disruption. "Today, I am happy to inform you that the United States accounts for something like 67 percent of our LPG imports."
Looking beyond immediate supply security, Puri pointed to the recently approved Rs 84,000 crore Samudra Manthan programme for deep-water oil and gas exploration. He said the government would back up to 50 percent of drilling costs, or up to Rs 650 crore per well, to draw investment into high-risk offshore exploration.
"The government is not going to do the drilling. The drilling is going to be done by private players," he said.
Puri said India had opened previously restricted offshore acreage for exploration and expected more opportunities in future licensing rounds. He also flagged the government's push to scale up compressed biogas capacity and said the ethanol blending programme was making progress.
Addressing recent concerns over ethanol-blended petrol, Puri rejected suggestions of widespread fuel contamination, saying oil marketing companies had begun large-scale testing before complaints surfaced publicly.
"They found four cases out of 1,07,000 petrol pumps with six crores to seven crores consumers going every day. So obviously, someone out there is trying to place some things out of context," he said.
He said inspection teams had carried out extensive checks nationwide, and argued that while contamination could occur in any fuel or product, the findings did not point to a systemic problem.
Puri also defended the government's fuel pricing policy, saying excise duty cuts had cushioned consumers from global volatility.
"In the last four years, if you look at an overall period, prices in India have largely come down. Why? Because the central government, thanks to very bold decision-making by the Prime Minister, decided to cut excise duty on fuel on three occasions in November 21, May 2022, and March 10, 2026," he said.
He said that while retail petrol and diesel prices had risen modestly over a longer horizon, the excise cuts had more than offset those increases. "Yes, if you look at a slightly larger period, I think petrol prices went up by 4 or 5 percent... But, if you compare that with the amount of excise duty cut, Rs 10 per litre on petrol and diesel, that's why India has one of the most affordable fuel rates in the world," he said.
The minister warned that continuing geopolitical conflicts still clouded the global energy outlook despite improved supply resilience. "I think the new global order should be secure, smart, and sustainable," he said.
India had insulated itself from external shocks so far, he said, but uncertainty remained. "So, I think we've managed so far. I don't like sticking my neck out too much because the global turmoil is still going on, but I am confident that with the policies we put in place, we are reasonably confident of meeting those challenges. But the rest, of course, we will have to navigate," he said.
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India is the world's third-largest energy consumer and crude oil importer and ranks among the largest refining nations. It imports most of its crude and has sought to diversify supply, expand refining, build strategic reserves and accelerate domestic exploration, alongside wider ethanol blending and a push into compressed biogas and other alternative fuels to cut import dependence.
