India and the Changing Geopolitics of Oil

The global energy scenario has transformed in the past 20 years. Oil demand, earlier driven by the West, is now shifting to the East, more specifically to Asia. New oil supplies from North America have challenged the hegemony of the traditional oil exporters from West Asia and Africa. India, once a marginal player in the world oil market, is now a valued customer providing demand security for oil exporters.

This book systematically examines India’s oil and gas trade, which makes it the world’s third largest importer of oil after China and the US. It explores the changing patterns of oil demand and supply, and the growing market for natural gas, renewable energy, biofuel, and alternative sources of energy. Further, the volume discusses a range of issues that affect India’s position in the global energy econom, y such as

• The geographic shifts in energy production and trade; international relations and economic sanctions that affect the oil trade;
• India’s quest for energy security; and contest with China for oil assets;
• Building new partnerships, and investing in stable, oil-rich countries like the US and Canada, while keeping up existing energy relations with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait;
• Using market mechanisms to ensure energy security.

Topical and comprehensive, this book in The Gateway House Guide to India in the 2020s series will be useful for scholars and researchers of international relations, geopolitics, foreign policy, security and strategic studies, energy studies, West Asia studies, South Asian studies, and international trade. It will also be of interest to policymakers, diplomats, career bureaucrats, and professionals working with think tanks, academia and multilateral agencies, media agencies, and businesses.

Amit Bhandari is the Fellow for Energy and Environment Studies at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, India. His research encompasses India’s energy security priorities and the role of financial markets, geopolitics, technology, and policy in achieving those goals. Amit has also studied China’s Belt and Road Initiative and has authored papers studying Chinese Investments in South Asia and Chinese Investments in India.

Amit has nearly two decades of experience in covering financial and energy markets. He started his career with the Economic Times, where he tracked the energy sector. He was a part of the startup team of ET Now, the business news channel. Amit was responsible for setting up India Reality Research, a new research outfit within CLSA India, a stockbroking firm. He has also worked with the Deccan Chronicle Group as the business editor of their general dailies. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India and a Bachelors degree in Technology from the Institute of Technology, Benaras Hindu University, India.