New Delhi, July 09: India today categorically ruled out any quid pro quo arrangement with the US for securing Iraqi crude oil supplies in exchange of sending troops to Baghdad and said that Iraqi oil was not critically important for the country.
"There is no quid pro quo at all," external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha said when asked if India would send its troops to Iraq in exchange of oil from Baghdad.
"We have not yet taken any decision. The decision will be taken in the larger national interest and the interest of Iraqi people," he said.
Sinha said Iraqi crude, before the war, constituted a very small percentage of India's total crude oil import. "We will prefer Iraq to export oil but as far as we are concerned it is not critically important to us."
Before the war, India was processing at least one Very Large Crude Carrier(one VLCC usually carries about two million barrels) of Basrah Light Crude.
New Delhi, which imported about 3 million tonnes of Iraqi crude in 2002 - constituting about 4 per cent of total imports, is seeking a similar quantity from the new administration in Baghdad on term contract basis.
It has met the shortfall of crude oil from Iraq this fiscal by importing higher quantities from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia - taking an extra four million barrels from Kuwait in April/May and an additional three million barrels from Saudi Arabia.
Bureau Report
