Amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and rising global oil prices, Vedanta Group Chairman Anil Agarwal has called on India to accelerate domestic oil and gas production to secure its long-term energy needs.
In a post on X (formerly, Twitter), Anil Agarwal highlighted that India imports 90 per cent of its crude oil requirements with 40 per cent being sourced from the Middle Eastern countries. “Uncertainty and conflict in the Middle East is a sure trigger for global oil prices. For India, which imports around 90% of its requirements, including 40% from the Middle Eastern countries, this becomes a challenge,” the post said.
He urged the country to tap into its vast hydrocarbon reserves and take advantage of its investor-friendly policies to speed up exploration and production efforts. “We can change this permanently. Let us put all our energies into raising domestic production. We have tremendous reserves. We have best-in-the-world policies. Government has done a lot of work. Allowing more and more self certification of clearances can lend the much required speed.
India is the next big opportunity in oil and gas,” Agarwal said in the post.
Thee intensifying conflict
The intensifying conflict between Israel and Iran—now further escalated by a recent US strike on Iranian nuclear facilities—has sent shockwaves through the global oil and gas sector. Further, the possible blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and from where a third of the world’s liquefied natural gas and nearly 25 per cent of total global oil consumption passes through, has raised an alarm. This would be a threat to India as well, given it reportedly imports nearly 85 per cent of its crude oil requirements.
Earlier, India’s Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that the country has enough energy supplies to meet requirements for several weeks and continues to receive supplies from several routes.
According to an earlier report by PTI, India increased its crude oil purchases from Russia and the United States in June 2025. The Oil Minister too had said that India has diversified its supplies, and the majority of oil imports for the nation do not come through the Strait of Hormuz now.
In a post on X, Hardeep Singh Puri had said, “We have diversified our supplies in the past few years and a large volume of our supplies do not come through the Strait of Hormuz now.”