State-run refiner Indian Oil has invited initial bids for 24 million barrels of oil from the Americas for the January to March quarter in 2026, according to a document reviewed by Reuters on Thursday.
The tender seeks cargoes of both low-sulphur and high-sulphur crude oil grades, according to the document.
Many Indian refiners paused new orders for Russian oil after the US imposed sanctions last week on Moscow’s top two producers, with some turning to the spot market for alternatives, industry sources have said.
Indian Oil, the country’s biggest refiner, is looking to gauge market interest in the event that it needs to buy oil from the Americas, a source aware of the tender told Reuters.
The tender will close on Friday, the source added.
Separately, IOC has purchased 2 million barrels of West African crude from ExxonMobil via a tender on Wednesday, trade sources said.
The purchase was for Mondo from Angola and Utapate from Nigeria, they added.
India became the biggest importer of seaborne Russian crude in the aftermath of Moscow’s 2022 Ukraine invasion.
