India's increasing demand and exhausting sources lead to India turn towards the Middle East for oil and gas supplies. India is ranked as world's sixth largest importer of oil.

As per the news published on PressTV, China, US, and Japan are striving to access oil and gas from the Middle East, whereas on the other hand, India is all set to increase its energy ties with the Middle East.

India has registered a phenomenal growth in the past many years. Its real gross domestic product increased by 9.1% in a span of six months in the previous year (2006) as per the Energy Information Administration, the data wing of the US Department of Energy. Largely, this GDP growth is being imbersed by foreign oil and natural gas. In the year 2004, India was ranked as the sixth largest importer of oil in the world. During 2006-2007, it imported over 810 million barrels of crude oil, which was 11% higher than what was imported in the previous year, as per the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

India’s population is growing at a very fast pace. It is anticipated that by 2015, the requirement of oil and gas will be inflated to an extent that India will have to borrow these resources from other countries, as its own resources will decline significantly. Iran has the second largest gas reserves in the world and is geographically situated near to India. Therefore, it can easily provide India with the required amount of gas. The already exhausting gas resources in India are a cause of worry for the government as about 70% of the total demand is met through imports.

As around 65% of the oil and gas imports come from the Middle East, the Indian government is deciding upon securing supplies from this region. Increasing industrial activities due to the economic growth have led to the increase in demand in the resources.

As per a research Analyst at RNCOS, “India is not the only country that will guarantee resource energy supplies from the Middle East (ME) as China is also all geared up to contact the producers in the ME countries. India is close to face competition for oil and gas from the fellow developing countries and developed countries. Subsequently, it is all set to get into cooperative agreements with the competitors”.

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