It’s time to rethink Gulf dependence: ONGC Chief

New Delhi: India must reassess its heavy reliance on the Middle East for energy after the biggest global shock in decades, Arun Kumar Singh, Chairman of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, said on Friday.

Speaking at an energy security conclave organised by Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, Singh warned that long-held assumptions about easy access to Gulf energy due to geographic proximity no longer hold.

India currently depends on the region for nearly half its crude imports, 30% of gas, and 85–90% of LPG. A recent six-week disruption that shut a key Gulf shipping route triggered an energy crisis across importing nations, forcing India to prioritise gas supplies.

“Thinking that the Middle East is nearest to us… should be taken with a pinch of salt,” Singh said, cautioning against overdependence in an increasingly fragmented global order. He flagged rising geopolitical tensions and de-globalisation as structural risks. “A paradigm shift has happened… we will see more conflicts and supply disruptions,” he said, adding that India’s import dependence makes it especially vulnerable.

Singh stressed that boosting domestic oil and gas output is now an “existential necessity”, calling for aggressive exploration, including deepwater reserves.

He also underlined the urgent need to expand strategic storage to cushion price and supply shocks. “We must address storage… whatever it takes,” he said. Highlighting volatility in global refining markets, Singh noted unprecedented scenarios where product margins exceeded crude costs. He warned of growing resource nationalism among producer countries and urged diversification across energy sources, supply chains and storage. On LPG, Singh said domestic supply has risen from 30% to 60%, aided by refinery adjustments.