New Delhi. Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale on Monday said Indian oil companies have made huge profits by buying ‘cheap’ oil from Russia, but people are not getting the benefit as fuel prices in the country are still ‘skyrocketing’. Have been.
TMC Rajya Sabha member Gokhale said in a post on social media platform ‘X’ that the Modi government should explain why the benefits of cheap oil being purchased from Russia is not reaching the common people. Gokhale said, “The very shameful truth behind fuel prices in India. After Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries had imposed sanctions on it. “As a result, Russia was forced to sell crude oil at less than $60 per barrel as per the sanctions.” He said, “India has emerged as the world’s largest buyer of Russian oil. For the last 2.5 years, India has been buying Russian oil at a 25 percent discount – 50 percent less than the market price, but who has benefited from this?” Gokhale said that India is now the largest exporter of refined petroleum to Europe.
TMC MP Gokhale said, “Basically, we are laundering Russian oil. “Since Europe cannot buy oil directly from Russia, we import Russian oil, refine it into petrol and diesel and sell it to Europe.” He said, “This has resulted in huge profits for Indian private petroleum companies – which are owned by corporates very close to Modi. However, despite importing oil at 25-50 percent cheaper rates, there has been almost no change in the prices of petrol and diesel in India. The TMC MP said, “Modi government claims that importing Russian oil is in India’s interest. But does India’s interest mean the welfare of our people or does it mean more profits for private petroleum companies?”
He said, “It is a matter of shame that the Indian people are being looted by the Modi government and there is no benefit to them by importing oil from Russia at cheap rates and they are being forced to pay skyrocketing fuel prices. ” Gokhale said that the Modi government should clarify why the prices of petrol and diesel have not come down despite importing oil from Russia at cheaper rates.
According to a report released in August by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), India, the world’s third largest oil consumer and importer, purchased crude oil worth $2.8 billion from Russia in July. According to the report, in the period before the Ukraine war, India bought less than one percent of its total imported oil from Russia, but now India imports about 40 percent of its total oil purchases from Russia.