‘Not because of drill baby, drill': India minister says oil not going away soon, investment is up

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17-07-2025

While acknowledging the realities of Climate Change, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that oil is not going anywhere from the energy market read more
While acknowledging the realities of Climate Change, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that oil is not going anywhere from the energy market. In a fireside chat with F_irstpost's Managing Editor, Palki Sharma_, at UrjaVarta 2025, Puri emphasised the ground realities of oil exploration.
When asked what challenges his ministry is facing from environmentalists when it comes to new oil exploration projects, Puri told Firstpost that the world is drilling more oil because of ground realities. He noted that in today's time, no economist would be able to predict when 'Oil will peak,' i.e. a phase when no one would want fossil or crude oil anymore.
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'When this business of new oil exploration started, I was a little worried because it is so easy to talk about climate change without knowing the reality,' he said. The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas emphasised that things have changed since 2021.
'All that has changed, why has it changed? Because of ' drill baby drill'? No. I think it changed because of ground realities. Even if you want to make the transition, and we are very serious, we are the only country which has made its Paris commitment, but when you want to transition, you transition from the present to where you want to transition to. You must have resources for the transition,' he said.
'We are doing well, biofuels 20 per cent, green hydrogen, we are really stepping on it, compressed bio gas, CNGs, etc. We are making the transition, but I don't think there is a date on a tipping point or phase-out point,' he added.
Puri on Trump's secondary sanctions
While commenting on US President Donald Trump's secondary sanctions threat against India, the Union Minister emphasised that India diversified its sources of buying oil and is not facing pressure over Trump's new threat.
On Tuesday, Trump announced a whopping 100 per cent tariffs on Russian exports, including oil, expressing his displeasure with Russian President Vladimir Putin's reluctance to negotiate a peace deal. Apart from this, Trump also introduced equivalent secondary tariffs on countries importing Russian shipments, with India being one of them.
Trump warned that the tariffs would be imposed after a 50-day deadline for Moscow to end the war against Ukraine. When asked about the secondary tariff warning, Puri said at the Thursday event that right now he does not have 'any pressure' in his mind. He acknowledged that India's import of Russian oil has increased significantly following the war in Ukraine.
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However, he maintained that during this period, India has diversified its sources of supply. 'Over the last 11 years, we diversified our options, built resiliency and navigated challenges. Each challenge posed by turbulence provided us with opportunities,' Puri told Firstpost. 'We have gone from 27 countries that we used to buy from to about 4 countries.'
While talking about buying oil from 'source 1 or 2,' Puri made it clear that India 'will buy from wherever it has to'. 'The Prime Minister's commitment is his final analysis to the Indian consumer,' he said.