The country buys around 1.5 million barrels of Russian oil every day, according to the Indian Oil Ministry. Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters
India is importing less and less oil from Russia. The Indian oil minister emphasized that the country has no payment difficulties with Russian oil producers.
Indian oil shipments from Russia have slumped, falling to an 11-month low in December.
But that is because the country is looking for better discounts, said the oil minister.
This is a machine translation of an article from our US colleagues at Business Insider. It was automatically translated and checked by an editor.
India has no payment problems with Russian oil traders. According to the Indian oil minister, the country’s oil imports have collapsed simply because Russian crude oil is too expensive.
“There is no payment problem,” Hardeep Puri, head of India’s petroleum and natural gas ministry, said at a news conference on Wednesday. “It’s all about the price at which our refineries will buy,” he added, according to a news agency report „Reuters“ added. India still buys around 1.5 million barrels of Russian oil per day. According to Puri, the country is focusing on getting energy at the best price. Meanwhile, other suppliers offer better discounts on their oil than Russia. However, he did not reveal which other suppliers India was negotiating with.
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Competition and mishaps: India rejects Russian oil
Indian purchases of Russian oil have declined in recent months, with oil imports from the country falling to an 11-month low in December. The country also appears to be rejecting some Russian oil imports that had already been planned. Five tankers carrying Russian oil recently turned back after drifting for a month near the coasts of India and Sri Lanka. This emerges from data from the “Bloomberg” news network, which tracked the price data of international shipping.
Reuters also learned from insiders that Indian oil refineries pay for Russian crude oil in dirhams, the currency of the United Arab Emirates. That led to problems. That’s because Russian state oil giant Rosneft was unable to accept payments because it couldn’t open a bank account in the United Arab Emirates, sources added.
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Russian oil is actually attractive
Russia is known for giving its allies the deepest discounts in the market for crude oil, which has led to India becoming one of Russia’s biggest buyers last year.
Sokol oil, a Russian crude that was recently rejected from Indian shores, traded at around $72 a barrel this week, while Russia’s main Urals crude traded at around $58 a barrel. Dollars, i.e. 52.9 euros, were traded per barrel. Both grades are below the international benchmark Brent, which rose to $78 (71.2 euros) per barrel on Friday morning.
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