Oil Minister Puri rebuffs Navarro’s ‘laundromat’ remark, says India broke no rules
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Oil Minister Puri rebuffs Navarro’s ‘laundromat’ remark, says India broke no rules")
India’s Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri Photograph: (PTI)
Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that even Europe turned to Indian fuels after banning Russian crude, and since the volume of exports and refining margins broadly remained the same, there was no question of any profiteering.
India’s Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has dismissed White House trade adviser Peter Navarro’s ‘laundromat’ remark and said that India did not violate any rule in purchasing Russian oil and added that New Delhi’s energy trade since the Ukraine war in fact helped stabilise global markets and keep crude oil prices in check. “Some critics allege that India has become a ‘laundromat’ for Russian oil. Nothing could be further from the truth. India's adherence to all international norms prevented a catastrophic $200 per barrel shock,” Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri wrote in a column for The Hindu newspaper on Monday.
“Russian oil has never been sanctioned like Iranian or Venezuelan crude; it is under a G-7/European Union price cap system deliberately designed to keep oil flowing while capping revenues,” Puri wrote.
The minister added that every Indian oil transaction is done using “legal shipping and insurance, compliant traders, and audited channels.” “India has not broken rules. India has stabilised markets and kept global prices from spiralling.”
“The larger truth is this—there is no substitute for the world’s second-largest producer supplying nearly 10% of global oil,” he added.
‘India fourth-largest exporter of petroleum products for decades’
Puri further said that India has been the fourth-largest exporter of petroleum products for decades—long before the Ukraine conflict—and its refiners process a basket of crudes from across the globe.
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“Exports keep supply chains functioning. Indeed, Europe itself turned to Indian fuels after banning Russian crude. The volume of exports and refining margins remain broadly the same. There is no question of profiteering,” he said.
‘Brahmins profiteering at the expense of Indian people’
Meanwhile, in a new rant against India, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said that “Brahmins” are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people and it needs to “stop”.
“Look (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi is a great leader,” Navarro said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
Navarro also said that he doesn’t understand how PM Modi is cooperating with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping “when he’s the biggest democracy in the world”.
“So I would just simply say, the Indian people, please understand what’s going on here. You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop,” Navarro said.
Last week, Navarro, in a series of posts on X, labelled the Russia-Ukraine war as “Modi’s war” and accused New Delhi of funding Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “war machine”.
India’s Opposition slams Navarro for his ‘Brahmin’ remark
Pawan Khera leader of the Congress party in opposition, also slammed Peter Navarro for his ‘Brahmin’ remark and called it ‘baseless’. “America should not make baseless statements like this,” Khera said while speaking to news agency ANI.
