India’s state-owned oil refiners have stopped buying Russian oil amid shrinking discounts in July and US President Donald Trump’s announcement of possible sanctions for cooperation with Moscow. About this reportedReuters agency.
India, which ranks third in the world in terms of oil imports, remains the largest sea buyer of Russian raw materials. However, state-owned companies — Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd — have not purchased Russian oil over the past week, the newspaper said.
These companies usually bought Russian oil on delivery terms, but have now refocused on the spot market, focusing on Middle Eastern grades, including Murban oil from Abu Dhabi, as well as oil from West Africa.
While private companies Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy remain the largest importers of Russian oil in India, it is the state-owned refiners that control more than 60% of the country’s total refining capacity of 5.2 million barrels per day.
It will be recalled that on July 14, Donald Trump announced that he would introduce 100% tariffs for countries that continue to purchase oil from Russia, if Moscow does not agree to a significant peace agreement with Ukraine.
He supported Senator Lindsey Graham’s initiative to introduce a 500% tariff against Russia, although he expressed hope that this could be avoided. Trump also repeated his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that the peace agreement should have been concluded two months ago. According to him, the USA and NATO have agreed on new supplies of weapons to Ukraine, which will be financed by the European allies.
Trump later issued additional threats against India over its energy and defense cooperation with Russia. He has criticized India’s trade policies, including high tariffs and barriers, and accused Delhi of large-scale purchases of Russian arms and energy resources, which he says are undermining international efforts against the Kremlin’s aggression. In addition to the basic duty of 25%, the US plans to introduce additional punitive measures for ties with Russia.
