'Since when is profit a crime?': Ex-Foreign Secretary blasts US for calling India's oil trade profiteering
Kanwal Sibal pointed to past US energy policy under Donald Trump to highlight the contradiction.
- Aug 20, 2025,
- Updated Aug 20, 2025 2:43 PM IST
Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal on Wednesday rejected US accusations that India is "profiteering" from Russian oil, calling the claim "pure humbug" and accusing Washington of double standards in its own energy practices.
"This is pure humbug. Indian importers of Russian oil and refining it were leveraging market conditions. They were not using political power to force any country to buy their refined products. Since when is America against companies making profits?" Sibal said in response to remarks by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Sibal pointed to past US energy policy under Donald Trump to highlight the contradiction. "Trump was against the Nord Stream 2 and wanted Europe to buy much higher-priced American LNG produced by big US companies and make big profits. Bessent should disclose the volume of these profits," he said. "US LNG exports to Europe doubled in 2024 since 2021. Trump has in his framework tariff agreement bludgeoned Europe into agreeing to buy $750 billion of US energy in the next 3 years. Bessent's posturing is astonishing."
Bessent, in a post on X, had written: "Before the war in Ukraine, less than 1% of India’s oil came from Russia. Now it is 42%. The system is allowing India to profiteer by buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it, and pocketing $16B in excess profits. This opportunistic arbitrage is unacceptable."
He further defended imposing additional tariffs on India while sparing China. "If you go back and look pre-2022, 13% of China’s oil was already coming from Russia. Now it’s 16%. So, China has a diversified input of oil," he told CNBC. "India is just profiteering. They are reselling. They made $16 billion in excess profits. Some of the richest families in India. This is a completely different thing. What I would call the Indian arbitrage... has just sprung up during the war."
Bessent also linked Indian oil purchases to the Russian war effort. "The Russian economy has 20% plus inflation right now. It is a war economy... More than 25% of the GDP is coming from the military buildup."
Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also defended the decision not to sanction China, stating that Chinese refining of Russian oil supports global market stability. "If you were to go after the oil sales of Russian oil to China - well, China just refines that oil. That oil is then sold into the global marketplace, and anyone who’s buying that oil would be paying more for it or... would have to find an alternative source," Rubio said in an interview with Fox Business.
He acknowledged that European countries privately raised concerns over broad sanctions. "We did hear from a number of European countries...some concern about what that could mean,” he said.
Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal on Wednesday rejected US accusations that India is "profiteering" from Russian oil, calling the claim "pure humbug" and accusing Washington of double standards in its own energy practices.
"This is pure humbug. Indian importers of Russian oil and refining it were leveraging market conditions. They were not using political power to force any country to buy their refined products. Since when is America against companies making profits?" Sibal said in response to remarks by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Sibal pointed to past US energy policy under Donald Trump to highlight the contradiction. "Trump was against the Nord Stream 2 and wanted Europe to buy much higher-priced American LNG produced by big US companies and make big profits. Bessent should disclose the volume of these profits," he said. "US LNG exports to Europe doubled in 2024 since 2021. Trump has in his framework tariff agreement bludgeoned Europe into agreeing to buy $750 billion of US energy in the next 3 years. Bessent's posturing is astonishing."
Bessent, in a post on X, had written: "Before the war in Ukraine, less than 1% of India’s oil came from Russia. Now it is 42%. The system is allowing India to profiteer by buying cheap Russian oil, reselling it, and pocketing $16B in excess profits. This opportunistic arbitrage is unacceptable."
He further defended imposing additional tariffs on India while sparing China. "If you go back and look pre-2022, 13% of China’s oil was already coming from Russia. Now it’s 16%. So, China has a diversified input of oil," he told CNBC. "India is just profiteering. They are reselling. They made $16 billion in excess profits. Some of the richest families in India. This is a completely different thing. What I would call the Indian arbitrage... has just sprung up during the war."
Bessent also linked Indian oil purchases to the Russian war effort. "The Russian economy has 20% plus inflation right now. It is a war economy... More than 25% of the GDP is coming from the military buildup."
Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also defended the decision not to sanction China, stating that Chinese refining of Russian oil supports global market stability. "If you were to go after the oil sales of Russian oil to China - well, China just refines that oil. That oil is then sold into the global marketplace, and anyone who’s buying that oil would be paying more for it or... would have to find an alternative source," Rubio said in an interview with Fox Business.
He acknowledged that European countries privately raised concerns over broad sanctions. "We did hear from a number of European countries...some concern about what that could mean,” he said.