"Eastern Maritime Corridor Offers India a Russia Oil Route Alternative"
Eastern Maritime Corridor (EMC)
a sea route connecting Chennai and Vladivostok for India-Russia trade and connectivity.
Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor (TATC)
Russia's integrated sea-rail-road network running from St Petersburg to Vladivostok.
India is the world's third-largest energy consumer and second-largest energy importer. It brings in about one-third of its total energy needs from abroad. India is also the world's third-largest crude oil importer and fourth-largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Oil import dependency stands at nearly 85-90%. LNG dependency is about 50%. LPG (cooking gas) dependency is around 60%. India's energy system depends on maritime supply chains. Any disruption at sea quickly becomes a national economic risk.
This dependence is made worse by a coastal imbalance. Most of India's oil, LNG and LPG imports land on the west coast. The west coast faces the Arabian Sea. Most of India's refining and LNG regasification capacity sits on the west coast. This concentrates both supply and processing infrastructure in one zone. This leaves India exposed to the Strait of Hormuz. Gulf oil must pass through this strait. India is also exposed to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait (meaning: the narrow sea gateway between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden). Suez-bound traffic, including Russian oil, travels through this strait. It also creates a security risk. The Jamnagar and Vadinar refineries are on the west coast. Together they refine about a third of India's crude. They lie within range of drone attacks from across the western border.
Since 2023, Russia has become India's largest single source of crude oil. At times it supplies over half of India's total oil imports. Yet supplier diversification has not meant route diversification. Russian oil reaches India mainly via the Suez Canal to west coast ports. It is shipped from Russia's Baltic ports through the Mediterranean and Red Sea. India has separately built a connectivity architecture for resilience. The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) links India to Europe via Iran and Central Asia. Chabahar Port in Iran was developed to give India access to Afghanistan and Central Asia. This happens without depending on Pakistan. The INSTC now forms the western anchor of a wider Russian connectivity network. This network reaches India's east coast as well.
The Adriatic Sea borders Albania. The Caspian Sea borders Kazakhstan among other countries. The Red Sea does not border Syria. Syria borders the Mediterranean Sea.
The Eastern Maritime Corridor (EMC) is also called the Chennai-Vladivostok Maritime Corridor. It was launched in 2019 by the leaders of India and Russia. The launch happened at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. It happened alongside India's Act Far East Policy and a $1 billion credit line to Russia. The EMC cuts transit time to Russia by about one-third via Chennai-Vladivostok. The 10,470-km sea route takes about 24 days at 10 knots. The longer 16,070-km conventional route via the Suez Canal to St Petersburg takes 36 days.
Russia has folded its former Northern Sea Route into a larger project. The Northern Sea Route ran from Murmansk to Provideniya. The larger project is called the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor (TATC). …
What is the importance of developing Chabahar Port by India?
Ships from which of the following countries have to cross the Strait of Hormuz to reach out to the Indian Ocean?
1.Bahrain
2.Syria
3.Qatar
4.Egypt
Select the answer using the code given below:
India, is one of the founding members of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), a multi-modal transport corridor. This corridor will connect
With reference to India's connectivity corridors, consider the following pairs:
1.International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) — Links India to Europe via Iran and Central Asia
2.Eastern Maritime Corridor (EMC) — Connects Chennai and Vladivostok
3.Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor (TATC) — Spans from St Petersburg to Vladivostok
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
Consider the following statements regarding maritime chokepoints relevant to India's crude oil imports:
1.The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
2.The Bab-el-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
3.The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Which of the following best describes the geographic concentration of India's energy infrastructure?
Which of the following statements about the Eastern Maritime Corridor (EMC) is/are correct?
1.It connects Chennai with Vladivostok.
2.It was launched in 2019 at the Eastern Economic Forum.
3.Its transit time is shorter than the conventional Suez Canal route to Russia.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
With reference to Russia's Arctic Zone, consider the following statements:
1.It is larger than the combined Arctic regions of the other Arctic countries.
2.It is estimated to hold about 30% of the world's undiscovered natural gas reserves.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Want the full note, Prelims Facts & MCQ answers?
Create a free account — takes less than a minute.
Create free account