India steps up energy outreach amid truce

NEw DelhiThe two-week ceasefire window in the westward Asia has helped young new delhi to deepen its vim security efforts in the Gulf region with petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri visiting India’s biggest natural gas supplier Qatar from Thursday, while external affairs minister S Jaishankar is heading to oil-rich United Arab Emirates on Saturday.Besides supply of crude oil, liquefied national gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the high-level engagements with energy-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are of significance as India and GCC are currently negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA). Additionally, one of the six GCC nations (the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) have invested in India’s 5.33 million tonne- strategic reserve.External affairs ministry’s spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal confirmed about the visits at the inter-ministerial briefing on Thursday. “We are closely following the developments in West Asia. We continue to engage with countries in the region,” he said, adding that external affairs minister will pay an official visit to the UAE from April 11 and 12.“During the visit he will meet the leadership of the UAE to review close cooperation and deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries,” he said. Referring to petroleum minister’s official visit to Qatar on April 9 and 10, Jaiswal said, “We are also reaching out to other countries in the GCC region.”While petroleum ministry on Thursday said in a post on X that Puri would be “on an official visit to the State of Qatar on 9-10 April, 2026”, Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the ministry told reporters that details of the minister’s two-day visit to Qatar would be shared after his return.Ministers’ visits are important at a time when the world is facing energy crisis because of a war between the US-Israel and Iran since February 28. While India managed oil and gas supplies without any disruption for its people because of its diversified sourcing from 41 countries, it faced a spike in import cost of energy.Benchmark Brent crude price that was at $72.87 a barrel before the war in West Asia, soared to $119.5 by March 9, about 64% jump. Thereafter, it hovered between $100 and $110 a barrel to close at $109.27 on Tuesday. While the news of truce on Wednesday saw a sharp dip in Brent price by % to $ 94.75 a barrel, its price bounced back to near $100 again on Thursday ($98.06 at 7:30 IST) after news on fragility of the truce came in the fore.The UAE and Qatar are crucial energy suppliers for India and the ministerial visits will help shore up the country’s energy security and provide an opportunity to assess the impact of the West Asia conflict on energy infrastructure in both countries, people familiar with the matter said. India’s hydrocarbon imports from the UAE were worth $24.74 billion in FY25. Qatar is the largest supplier of both LNG (11.19 million metric tonnes worth $6.39 billion in 2024-25) and LPG (4.89 million metric tonnes worth $3.21 billion in 2024-25).Puri’s visit to Qatar is important as it is India’s biggest supplier of natural gas – both in the form of LNG and LPG (used as cooking gas for 332 million household consumers). India imports about 60% of its LPG consumption and out of these imports about 90% come through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been impacted because of the war in West Asia.Iran’s strike on Qatar’s Ras Laffan’s gas facilities in mid-March aggravated the situation. New Delhi is taking steps to ensure that force majeure declared by key West Asian energy producers, such as QatarEnergy, for long-term contracts do not impact energy supplies to India, the people said. “These visits will facilitate an assessment of the status of energy supplies. Where energy facilities have been damaged in attacks, there can be an assessment on how long it will take for supplies to return to normal,” a person said.Indian firms such as Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL), GAIL India and GSPC have long-term commercially beneficial long-term gas supply contracts with Qatar. PLL is importing about 7.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG from Qatar. GSPC is taking 1 MTPA and GAIL is taking less than 1 MMTPA LNG from Qatar.The UAE is India’s second biggest supplies of natural gas after Qatar and fourth largest supplier of crude oil after Russia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Besides, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) of the UAE is first foreign entity to invest in one of the India’s strategic petroleum reserves (SPRs).In January this year, state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and ADNOC Gas signed a 10-year LNG supply agreement for delivery of 0.5 million tonnes a year, beginning in 2028. An Indian consortium and ADNOC have a 10% stake in the UAE’s Lower Zakum offshore oil field. In December 2024, state-run GAIL India and QatarEnergy signed an agreement for 60 cargoes of LNG over the next five years.Both visits will also be an opportunity for India to be briefed by the top leadership of the UAE and Qatar on the latest developments in the West Asia crisis, including the thinking on the temporary ceasefire and overall security situation, the people said. At the same time, the ministers are expected to take up the welfare of the Indian diaspora in both countries – the UAE is home to four million Indians, while Qatar hosts more than 830,000 Indians.Entire GCC countries are important for India not only from the point of energy security but also for trade and commerce. GCC contributes about 35% of India’s oil imports and 70% of gas imports. GCC as a bloc is one of the largest trading partners of India at $178.56 billion in FY25. India exported merchandise worth $56.87 billion to GCC countries and imported goods worth $121.68 billion in 2024-25, accounting for 15.42% of India’s global trade.