“Purchases of crude oil by the state-owned Indian Oil Corp. may change due to new US sanctions against Russia affecting supplies from Moscow: India’s largest oil refiner is now forced to look for alternatives.”, — write: epravda.com.ua
Sources of oil purchases by state-owned Indian Oil Corp could change as new US sanctions against Russia affect supplies from Moscow, forcing India’s biggest refiner to look for alternatives. This is reported by the Bloomberg agency. Before the war between Russia and Ukraine, India imported less than 2% of its oil from Russia. But in the middle of last year, that figure rose to nearly 45%, according to data from analyst firm Kpler, as Russia offered deep discounts. Meanwhile, supplies from traditional suppliers such as Saudi Arabia have declined. “Everything that was shifted in favor of Russia was only in the spot market,” Arvinder Singh Sahni, chairman of India’s third-largest company by revenue, said on Wednesday. “Now we’re going to rebalance it.” Advertisement: On January 10, the US imposed the most aggressive sanctions against Russia in an attempt to strengthen Ukraine’s position in possible peace talks. Sanctions could affect daily supplies of up to 2 million barrels of oil to India and China, Sahni said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. India will look to suppliers such as OPEC countries, the US, Guyana and Brazil to make up for the possible shortfall, he added. Advertisement “We have enough sources, enough cooperation and geopolitical and commercial alliances for further development,” he stressed. According to the International Energy Agency, Russia exported 4.6 million barrels of oil per day in December. Of that, 1.5 million barrels per day were delivered to India last month, according to Kpler data. Oil prices have risen since the sanctions were imposed, but Sahni said they are likely to remain in the $75-$80 per barrel range in the near term. We will remind: the Office of the Control of Foreign Assets of the US Treasury Department introduced sanctions against the two largest oil companies of the Russian Federation, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz, as well as ship insurance providers Ingosstrakh and Alfastrahovanie. According to the Financial Times, the measures include blacklisting 183 “shadow fleet” vessels involved in the export of energy resources from Russia. India is set to ditch oil tankers that have been sanctioned by the US for their role in transporting cargo for Russia, another example of the impact of Washington’s measures on the global oil market.