War in Iran exposes the fragile architecture of global energy security

India’s response increasingly resembles a form of multi-layered energy strategy designed to manage risks pragmatically. The first layer lies in strategic reserves. India’s strategic petroleum reserve system alone holds more than five million tonnes of crude across storage facilities in Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur, providing a crucial buffer. New reserve capacity had been planned last year.

New Delhi: The upheaval now rippling through global oil and gas markets following the war in Iran is exposing a structural reality that energy-importing economies have rarely confronted so starkly: the architecture of global energy security is deeply fragile. It is a strategic test of how effectively nation states can navigate a global energy system increasingly shaped by geopolitical conflict, shipping chokepoints and policy unpredictability.

India’s response increasingly resembles a form of multi-layered energy strategy designed to manage risks pragmatically. The first layer lies in strategic reserves. India’s strategic petroleum reserve system alone holds more than five million tonnes of crude across storage facilities in Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur, providing a crucial buffer. New reserve capacity had been planned last year.

A second layer involves quick supply diversification. As Oil Minister Hardeep Puri pointed out in Parliament on March 12, “India has secured crude volumes that exceed what the disrupted Strait route would have delivered in the same period. Non-Hormuz sourcing has risen to approximately 70 per cent of crude imports, up from 55 per cent before the conflict began.........

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