Bracing against Brent

It is time for India to be imaginative about its energy strategy

India’s crude import bill in FY-2018-19, when the country had imported 84 per cent of its crude oil requirement, was the highest in the past five years. India spent $111.9 billion on oil imports in 2018-19 compared to $87.8 billion in FY 2017-18. Moreover, two-thirds of the imports were sourced from conflict-prone regions of the world. The increasing hostility between the US and Iran might thus have an adverse impact on India’s domestic supply and import bill.
 
Iran is the second largest country in the Middle East and has the World’s third largest oil reserves. It used to be