Oil Prices Spike Amid Escalating Israel-Iran Tensions: Should India Be Concerned? What Hardeep Singh Puri Said

Global oil prices have jumped to their highest level since January after Israel carried out strikes on Iran. Amid a dramatic escalation in West Asia, the globe's biggest energy supplier, India doesn't need to worry as it has adequate energy supplies for the coming months, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.

Hardeep Singh Puri said that he held a periodic review of energy availability scenario with the captains of the Indian oil industry, adding that the country has enough supplies for the coming months.

"India's energy strategy is shaped by successfully navigating the trilemma of energy availability, affordability and sustainability... We have adequate energy supplies for the coming months," Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri posted on X.

Notably, India is the world's third-largest oil importer and fourth-largest gas buyer. More than 40 per cent of the oil imports and half of the gas imports come from the Middle East.

While Russia is India's biggest suuplier of crude oil which is refined into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries, Qatar is the India's biggest supplier of natural gas. The natural gas imported from Qatar is used to make fertilisers, generate electricity and is turned into CNG to run autmobiles and piped to household kitchens for cooking.

Global oil prices have jumped to their highest level since January after Israel struck Iran, in a dramatic escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

The rate of the benchmark Brent crude was up by more than 10 per cent shortly after the news emerged, but eased a little. Brent was trading close to USD 75 a barrel, up more than 5 per cent over Thursday's close.

Despite the spike on Friday, oil prices are still more than 10 per cent lower than where they were at the same point last year. They are also well below over USD 100 a barrel rate seen in early 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran, the West Asian region seems on a brink of war. Earlier today, Israel carried out strikes at various places in Iran, targeting nuclear and missile sites, and top military officers.

Israel launched 'Operation Rising Lion,' striking at the heart of Iran's nuclear program, including its main enrichment facility in Natanz, early Friday.

The strikes set off explosions in the capital of Tehran as Israel said it was targeting Iranian nuclear and military facilities.

Following this, Iran sent a swarm of drones. The newly appointed commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Mohammad Pakpour, threatened to open “the gates of hell” in retaliation for Israel’s attacks that killed his predecessor Hossein Salami.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump asked Iran to agree to a nuclear deal, warning that "the next already planned attacks" would be even more brutal.

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