India will continue buying crude from Russia as it looks to cater to its interests, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday, amid U.S. pressure over India’s Russian crude purchases.
“Where we buy our oil from, especially a big-ticket foreign exchange item where we pay so much, highest in terms of import, we will have to take a call on what suits us best,” Sitharaman told the News18 television channel on Friday.
“We will undoubtedly be buying.”
India looks at the economics of its oil imports and will keep buying Russian oil as long as it’s economically justified, various Indian officials have said in recent weeks, defying U.S. pressure.
Earlier this week, Indian Oil Minister Indian Hardeep Singh Puri said that India is not profiteering from importing Russian crude, it actually helps keep global oil prices in check.
“India’s adherence to all international norms prevented a catastrophic $200 per barrel shock,” Puri wrote in a column in The Hindu newspaper on Monday.
“Some critics allege that India has become a ‘laundromat’ for Russian oil. Nothing could be further from the truth,” the minister said.
Peter Navarro, the White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, told Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures that India is “nothing but a laundromat for the Kremlin”, referring to New Delhi importing cheap Russian oil and selling the refined fuels at higher prices in Europe and Asia.
India hasn’t broken any rules on Russian oil, the Indian minister said, adding that it has “stabilized markets and kept global prices from spiraling.”
The heated remarks over India’s role in Russian oil trade came as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was meeting early this week with China’s President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a security summit in China.
Meanwhile, India’s refiners are expected to import more Russian crude in September compared to August levels as discounts are deepening amid Russia’s constrained refining capacity due to Ukrainian drone strikes, traders told Reuters last week.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
