Four of India\u2019s seven largest oil refiners are now actively purchasing Russian crude, driven by deep discounts that encourage the search for \u201cnon-sanctioned\u201d barrels, Bloomberg reports.<\/p>\n
State-owned Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. have purchased around 10 cargoes of non-sanctioned Russian crude \u2014 including Urals \u2014 over the past several days, according to sources familiar with the deals. Meanwhile, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. is seeking supplies for January delivery, the sources added.<\/p>\n
Including Nayara Energy, which continued buying Russian oil even after being blacklisted by Europe, these four refiners together accounted for more than 60% of India\u2019s crude imports this year, according to analytics firm Kpler.<\/p>\n
Notably absent is Reliance \u2014 formerly the largest buyer of Russian oil in India. According to sources, the conglomerate is now avoiding purchases even under its long-term contract with Rosneft PJSC, aiming to minimize the risk of violating U.S. or EU sanctions.<\/p>\n
For months, India has been trying to maintain a delicate balance: retaining access to cheap Russian crude, demonstrating geopolitical independence, and at the same time avoiding irritating either Washington or Brussels.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s imports of Russian oil are expected to decline next year due to sanctions on both Rosneft and Lukoil PJSC, though trade will likely continue at a lower level.<\/p>\n
According to Indian traders, Russian crude is currently selling at around $40\u201345 per barrel.<\/p>\n
In June this year, India imported more than 2 million barrels per day of Russian oil. In December, this figure is set to drop to 1.3 million barrels per day (partly due to earlier contracted cargoes prior to new restrictions), and in January it will fall even further.<\/p>\n
It remains unclear whether these reduced volumes will satisfy the Trump administration, which accuses India of financing Vladimir Putin\u2019s war and demands that New Delhi sever its energy ties with Moscow. A long-awaited trade agreement between New Delhi and Washington has yet to be finalized.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":150802,"menu_order":0,"template":"","newscat":[9],"newstag":[],"issues":[],"class_list":["post-150801","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","newscat-novosti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/150801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"newscat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newscat?post=150801"},{"taxonomy":"newstag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newstag?post=150801"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldaily.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=150801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}