India well-prepared to handle disruptions in crude oil, fuel supplies amid West Asia conflict: Piyush Goyal
Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India is well-prepared to handle any disruptions in crude oil and fuel supplies, as ongoing conflict in West Asia severely disrupted gas shipments and maritime routes. He noted that India has adequate fuel stocks and there has been absolutely no disturbance of any sort on the crude or the fuel front, petrol, diesel, aviation fuel.
The minister highlighted that India has increased kerosene production to provide alternate cooking medium for the common man in case of delays in LPG supplies. He said ‘incidentally, we are also covering through imports from diversified sources the requirements of LPG and LNG.’ He said ‘the shipping times were barely three or four days, at best seven days, when these shipments of gas came into India and now, we have to diversify to sources which are significantly far away from India… Canada, the US, and possibly Russia, we are looking at various alternate sources which will feed the requirements of India.'
Describing the current geopolitical situation as ‘wake-up call’ for the country, he said that whenever India faced a challenge, it has always been able to convert that into an opportunity. He said ‘I think India is a very resilient country, a very strong economy with good fundamentals and I'm very confident that while we have a war raging on, I'm not an astrologer and can't predict how long it will run, but my own sense is the people of India understand that this is a challenge we have to overcome.'
