India will continue to buy Russian crude in the coming months, with active purchases for cargoes loading in November and December, sources familiar with the plans of Indian refiners told Bloomberg.
The tensions of the past weeks between the U.S. and India over the latter’s continued purchases of Russian crude oil appeared to ease this week after U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone call with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to wish him a happy birthday and thank him for efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“Just had a wonderful phone call with my friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I wished him a very Happy Birthday! He is doing a tremendous job,” President Trump wrote on social media.
“Narendra: Thank you for your support on ending the War between Russia and Ukraine!,” the U.S. President added.
After some hesitation and pullback from state refiners in early August amid the U.S. threats of doubled tariffs, Indian refiners – including the state-owned ones – are back to buying Russian crude, although they are hedging their bets with procurement of more volumes from the U.S., Brazil, and West Africa.
Despite the doubled U.S. tariff on imports of Indian goods, Indian refiners are set to raise their imports by between 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 300,000 bpd in September, or up by 10-20% compared to August volumes, according to traders and analysts.
The discount of Russia’s flagship Urals crude blend for Indian buyers has widened to between $3 and $4 per barrel amid continued pressure from the United States on India to force it to stop buying Russian crude. India continues to buy Russian crude, also incentivized by the wider discounts compared to the minimal discounts in June and July.
India will keep buying crude from Russia as it looks to cater to its interests, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said early this month as India dismissed U.S. criticism that it is profiteering from importing Russian crude.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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