India is the 3rd largest oil consumer and importer in the world, consuming approximately 194 million metric tons from a diverse 39 different countries annually. India’s top supplier is Russia, they receive 22% of their oil from them, ignoring sanctions that the rest of the world has imposed following the war. After Russia, India’s oil suppliers are largely located in the Persian Gulf. India’s oil minister stated that India would keep importing oil from the Middle East for the foreseeable future. Puri stated that India would also consider buying oil from Venezuela and Iran, among others, if the sanctions were lifted. Among further investigation however, it seems they never stopped importing oil from Iran and started importing from Venezuela in 2022 (not too long before this article was written).
To essentially state that India will not stop buying oil is, frankly, ignorant to climate change and the impact it has on a country as vulnerable as India. India seems to be involved in quite a few sketchy oil dealings and this whole situation is obnoxious. India, among others, is vying to gain strength regionally and globally; we can see through the ‘necklace of diamonds’ strategy that they are hoping to counter China’s efforts in the region. If India wants to become a hegemon and a periphery country– they need to adequately address issues such as climate change and not engage in sketchy oil dealings with heavily sanctioned countries. While India is exceptionally wealthy as a whole, it’s population is poor, meaning that if more is invested in sustainable energy efforts and internal restructuring of infrastructure, they will be able to rise towards their goal of being a regional hegemony.
This relates to what we’re doing in class because it’s an example of India’s geopolitical strategy– India’s foreign strategy places an emphasis on trade.