“India’s state-owned oil refiners are considering buying crude oil in the Middle East spot market due to reduced supplies from their main supplier, Russia.”, — write: epravda.com.ua
India’s state-owned oil refiners are considering buying crude oil in the Middle East spot market due to reduced supplies from their main supplier, Russia. This is reported by the Reuters agency with reference to sources. Three major state-owned companies — Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum — reported shortfalls of 8-10 million barrels of Russian oil that needed to be loaded in January. Refiners fear that problems with the purchase of Russian oil on the spot market may continue in the future, as demand within Russia itself increases and Moscow must fulfill its obligations under the OPEC agreement. for March at the expense of own stocks. Two of the sources added that their companies may increase their purchases of crude oil from Middle Eastern suppliers as part of additional volumes under long-term contracts or announce a spot tender for high-sulfur crude. India has become the largest importer of Russian oil after the European Union, previously a major buyer, imposed sanctions on Russian oil imports in response to a 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russia accounts for more than a third of India’s energy imports.Advertisement: Exports of Russian oil on spot markets have declined since November. This was due to Russian refineries resuming operations after a maintenance season, as well as poor weather conditions that hampered shipping, traders said. To remind: the Russian state oil company “Rosneft” has agreed to supply almost 500,000 barrels per day (b/d) of oil to the Indian private oil refinery Reliance as part of the largest ever energy agreement between the two countries. India is fighting for more trade with Russia to be done in rupees as its trade with Moscow has increased 5-fold in 3 years. India’s oil refineries are working at full capacity, converting Russian crude oil into petroleum products, which are then exported to Western countries.