Last few days have been nothing sort of stressful for the nation-loving Indians. In the wake of Nupur Sharma episode, most of them thought that their nearby petrol pumps would run out of fuel. On the other hand, they also did not want India to succumb to the lobby. Well, we have good news for you and all our nationalistic friends. Modi government has given their own taste of medicines to haughty Arabs.
India-Russia oil trade burgeoning
The numbers are out now. The decades-long friendship between Russia and India is finally heading towards achieving its full economic potential. The competition of exporting more oil to India has finally resulted in a loss for Saudi Arabia and the overall Arab world. Now, Putin-led Russia is second largest source of India’s energy imports.
According to a report by BBC, In May 2022, India imported 0.74 million barrels of oil per day from Russia. It amounted to 25 million barrels of shipment in the month of May. With this record supply, Russia becomes the second-largest supplier of oil to India. It is now providing for more than 16 percent of our imported oil needs. It is a significant jump on a month-on-month basis. In April this year, Russian oil accounted for 7 percent of our import baskets. It is significantly larger than 0.71 million barrels per day India availed from Saudi Arabia in the month of May. Additionally, compared to 2021, India’s imports from the rest of Arab world also nosedived.
Read more: Islamic nations are not miffed at India due to Islamic reasons, the truth is oily
Oil is the bread and butter for Arab world, literally
The newly released numbers are nothing less than set back for the Arab world. The Arab world is infertile, to say the least. Only two percent of the area falling under the ambit of Gulf Cooperation Council is arable. That is why, the region is heavily dependent on oil and related petrodollars for revenue. In fact, it won’t be a far-fetched argument to assert that whatever modernity Arabians have, it is only on the back of oil revenues.
Just because the region is the main source of energy feeding the modern day economies of scale, they have been trying to impose their will on those countries who are dependent on it. A case in point is the USA. Despite having various points of disagreement between liberal democratic values and Islamic theologic state, the United States held a closed-knit relationship with the Arab countries. It is sufficient to say that US did not want to block its source of oil and revenue from the circulation of petrodollars all around the world.
India is phasing out Arab oil
Recently, these countries tried the same on India as well. While the country was debating whether Nupur Sharma’s comments on Prophet Muhammad were appropriate or not, various countries including Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and whole of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) found it apt to interfere in India’s internal matter.
But, PM Modi had already seen these kinds of interventions coming. That is why for the last few years, he and his Cabinet have been focussing on finding alternate sources of oil and gas. The Modi government did not even care for the logistical problems when it came to India’s resolve for phasing out Arab oil. In 2021, USA, the farthest source was 4th largest supplier of oil to India.
Read more: West Asia cannot survive a week without India’s support- A data-driven analysis
Fresh setback for the Arab world
The Arab world was already frustrated with India and then came Ukraine-Russia crisis. Russia started to offer oil at discounted prices and India did not hesitate. This further miffed the oil hegemons. Their objection to Nupur Shama’s comments was a knee-jerk reaction, which was a failed attempt to browbeat India. While, BJP did suspend Nupur, but on the other hand efforts have been put in to increase oil trade with Russia. It is expected that in June, Russia will be fulfilling 20 percent of our imported oil needs.
In spite of trying Sam, Dam, Dand, Bhed, these countries could not stop India-Russia oil trade. It is an indirect warning to them. Either they should stay in their lane or prepare for oblivion.
