Israel-Hamas conflict: Don't expect disruption in supply lines, says Puri

"I am reasonably confident that both on issues related to availability and affordability that we can navigate forward," the minister said

Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday said that there is no expectation of any disruption in supply lines for crude oil so far.

Asked if the conflict can have an impact on oil supplies, Puri told reporters here, ".. so far, no expectation of supply lines being disrupted".

"I am reasonably confident that both on issues related to availability and affordability that we can navigate forward.

"I am confident that we will be able to manage and this for a variety of reasons. We have diversified our sources of supply. Earlier, we used to import from 27 countries, today we import from 39 countries," Puri said.

Replying to a question, he said normally, the country consumes five million barrels per day.

"Our imports from the Americas have increased. We buy USD 20 billion worth energy from them," he said in response to a question.

Replying to a question if further reduction in fuel prices can be expected with festive season around, Puri said that during the past two years when fuel prices went up around the world, in our country these dropped by 5 per cent.

Explaining how oil prices don't depend on any single factor, he said on these things we don't speculate.

Puri was speaking to reporters here on the sidelines of attending a Youth Festival at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College.

Asked about the conflict, Puri, a former diplomat, said, "What has happened in the Middle East, if you are referring to the attacks which were undertaken by Hamas on Israel... I used to chair the counter-terrorism committee of the UN Security council, so I just want to put on table two or three broad points," he said, while adding India does have zero tolerance for terrorism.

"The mainstream opinion today is that acts of terror cannot be justified no matter what the cause.. so separate the political cause. You cannot go and kill innocent civilians. And we are a country which has been a victim of that form of terrorism," he said, while adding that terrorist takes away the most fundamental right of all--the right to life.

His remarks came against the backdrop of a series of brazen attacks on Israeli towns by Hamas militants over the weekend which triggered fresh tensions in the region.

Terrorism anywhere in the world and any form is against humanity and conflicts do not benefit anyone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and asserted that "this is time for peace and brotherhood" as a divided world cannot provide solutions to big global challenges.

While the Prime Minister did not mention any specific conflict or issue, his remarks come amid a raging war between Israel and Hamas which has already seen a large number of casualties.