Four out of seven major Indian refineries continue to buy Russian oil - Media
Kyiv • UNN
Four of India's seven largest oil refineries continue to purchase Russian oil at significant discounts, while Reliance Industries Ltd. refrains due to the risk of sanctions. Russian oil imports to India are expected to decrease, but trade will continue at a lower level.
Four of India's seven largest oil refineries are now buying Russian oil, as significant discounts are pushing buyers to seek unsanctioned supplies, while giant Reliance Industries Ltd. is refraining from doing so, UNN reports with reference to Bloomberg.
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According to sources involved in the procurement, state-owned Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. have purchased about 10 batches of unsanctioned Russian oil, including Urals, in the past few days. Hindustan Petroleum Corp., meanwhile, is expecting a January delivery, said sources who were not authorized to speak publicly.
These four companies, including Nayara Energy, which continues to buy Russian oil even after being blacklisted by Europe, account for just over 60% of India's oil imports this year, according to analytics firm Kpler. The companies did not respond to emailed requests, the publication adds.
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The publication emphasizes that Reliance was, until recently, the largest buyer of Russian oil in India. According to sources, the conglomerate is now avoiding oil supplies even under a long-term contract with PJSC Rosneft, equivalent to 500,000 barrels per day, seeking to avoid the risk of violating US or European sanctions.
India has been in a difficult situation for several months, trying to maintain access to cheap Russian oil and demonstrate geopolitical independence without displeasing either Washington or Brussels. But while Russian oil imports to India are expected to decline next year — due to the blacklisting of Rosneft and PJSC Lukoil — trade is expected to continue at a lower level.
According to Indian traders, Russian oil is selling for approximately $40-45 per barrel.
In June, at the peak of this year's purchases, India imported more than 2 million barrels of oil per day from Russia. This figure is expected to drop to 1.3 million barrels in December, although the total volume will still increase due to cargoes booked before the restrictions were imposed, and then even lower in January.
It is unclear whether these modest volumes will be enough to satisfy the Trump administration, which has accused India of financing Russian President Vladimir Putin's war and demanded a break in relations between the two countries. A long-awaited trade agreement between New Delhi and Washington has yet to be concluded.
According to Kpler, Reliance, a significant oil buyer, is due to receive its last batch of Urals oil on the tanker Aqua Titan, which is scheduled to deliver it to Jamnagar on December 17, and no new tankers are expected after that. However, since many vessels do not report their final destination before entering or exiting the Red Sea, it is possible that other cargoes are still en route, said Sumit Ritolia, lead analyst for refining and modeling at Kpler.
If Reliance does not buy oil, it will leave a significant volume of crude oil for Rosneft to sell in other countries.
"While other refineries may partially offset the decline in volumes, they are unlikely to be able to fully fill the volumes that Reliance was able to absorb at its peak," Ritolia said. "At this point, we see Russian oil imports to India at about 1-1.2 million barrels per day.
Smaller refiners, including Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd. have also completely stopped buying Russian oil."