The Persian Gulf conflict of 2026 has elevated the agenda of energy security for the BRICS members. This issue paper argues that while BRICS cannot act as a unified geopolitical bloc on energy owing to the divergent positions of its member states, it can build a collective economic unit for managing price and supply disruptions.
The vulnerability to oil supply disruptions and subsequent price shocks is shared by all regions of the world. For major oil-importing members such as India, elevated prices translate directly into billions of dollars in additional monthly foreign exchange outflow, industrial shutdowns, and downstream food inflation. Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia face currency depreciation, fuel rationing and supply shortages. China, with the world’s largest strategic petroleum reserve at over 90 days of import cover, is relatively insulated. Oil-exporting members such as Russia remains under sanctions while Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are embroiled in a full-fledged military conflict on opposing sides. The crisis has exposed a membership that is simultaneously affected by the disruption and unable to act collectively in response.
The BRICS Energy Cooperation Roadmap 2025-2030 published only last year, offers limited relief. Its focus on long-term energy transition, green hydrogen, and decarbonisation is misaligned with the immediate imperative of market stabilisation. Unlike the International Energy Agency which compels members to maintain 90-day reserves and mobilised 400 million barrels of emergency supply in March 2026 or the ASEAN’s Petroleum Security Agreement model, BRICS has no substantial framework as a grouping to respond to a supply shock of the present scale.
This paper underscores the urgent need for internal reform within BRICS energy cooperation and proposes a set of institutional and financial measures to strengthen the grouping’s collective resilience. It argues for deeper coordination through shared reserve mechanisms, targeted financial support for vulnerable members, expanded joint energy infrastructure, and stronger cross-border investment frameworks in both hydrocarbons and critical minerals. Together, these measures aim to reduce external vulnerabilities, enhance energy security, and position BRICS to build more integrated and resilient supply chains for both conventional energy and the transition to cleaner energy systems.
The underlying rationale herein is of economic unity prevailing over geopolitical divide within BRICS. Stable energy markets are a shared interest across BRICS regardless of political alignment. The foremost requirement behind the proposed measures is the recognition that collective economic architecture is both urgent and achievable for members.
You can download ‘A BRICS Energy Stability Framework’ here.
Amit Bhandari is Senior Fellow for Energy, Investment and Connectivity.
The issue paper is part of the first edition of the Geopolitical Futures Policy Series on Perspectives on Statecraft and Institution Building by Asia Pacific Consulting and Advisory, a subsidiary of The Asia Foundation.