Discuss how extraterritorial/secondary sanctions by major powers affect the energy security of import-dependent economies like India. Suggest strategies to insulate India's energy policy from such pressures.

Secondary sanctions penalise third countries for trade that is lawful under their own and international law. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, 2026 (H.R. 5334) directs duties of up to 100% ad valorem on goods from the five largest importers of Russian crude or gas [1] — placing India, a predominantly import-dependent economy, directly in the line of fire.

How such sanctions erode energy security

• Loss of price advantage: the threat forces refiners to abandon discounted barrels, raising the import bill and feeding fuel, fertiliser and freight inflation and current-account strain.
• Reversal of route diversification: sourcing from about 40 countries has cut India's dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, with nearly 70% of crude now arriving outside that chokepoint against 55% earlier [2]. Coerced withdrawal from a major supplier re-exposes India to a single chokepoint.
• Thin shock absorber: strategic reserves of 5.33 MMT at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur cover only about 9.5 days of crude need [3], leaving little bargaining room during a forced switch.
• Coupling of trade and energy files: standing multi-year tariff authority [1] converts energy sourcing into a permanent lever in bilateral trade bargaining, weakening strategic autonomy and the rules-based trading order.

Strategies to insulate India

• Deepen the buffer: complete Phase-II reserves of 6.5 MMT at Chandikhol and Padur [4] and fill caverns counter-cyclically when prices are low, moving toward the IEA 90-day norm.
• Keep diversification structural, not supplier-specific — long-term contracts across West Asia, Africa, the Americas and Russia, plus refinery configurations able to process multiple crude grades.
• Cut the exposure itself through domestic exploration, ethanol blending, biofuels and electric mobility [5].
• Negotiate the goods-tariff dispute separately from energy, and press plurilateral forums against unilateral extraterritorial measures.

Energy sourcing is ultimately a sovereign economic decision. India's durable answer lies less in rhetoric than in storage, supply diversity and demand moderation — converting today's coercion into the impetus for a genuinely resilient, transition-ready energy architecture.