Two Indian refiners have bought 4 million barrels of Guyanese crude oil from US-based Exxon Mobil for delivery in late 2025 and early 2026. Such a purchase in South America is atypical for India, Reuters reported.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the country’s largest refiner by capacity, has purchased 2 million barrels of Golden Arrowhead crude, which it had not previously imported. Hindustan Petroleum Corp also purchased 2 million barrels of Liza and Unity Gold grades for the first time.
On a global scale, these volumes are small (less than the country’s daily imports), but expanding the range of suppliers allows it to partially compensate for imports of Russian oil, which has led to the country being subject to secondary US sanctions.
Since 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, India has become one of the key importers of Russian oil, although it had almost never bought it before. Traditionally, the main source of supplies remained the Middle East.
Guyana is a new player in the market: the country began exporting only in 2020 after the discovery of significant offshore deposits. The state is located in the northeast of South America, washed by the Atlantic Ocean to the north, and borders Venezuela, Brazil, and Suriname. It is the only English-speaking country on the continent. According to the analytical company Kpler, in October 2025, crude oil exports from Guyana reached a record level of 938 thousand barrels per day.
As a reminder, on October 15, US President Donald Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised him to stop purchasing Russian oil.
