India buys steeply discounted Russian oil to meet its energy needs
India, which refuses to take sides in the Ukrainian conflict, was importing Russian crude oil at discounted rates, resisting pressure from the West to avoid such purchases. Local media say it could buy up to 15 million barrels of cheap fuel to meet the country’s enormous energy demands.
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Indian Oil Corp, the country’s largest oil refiner, bought three million barrels of Russian crude oil through a Dutch energy and commodity trading firm late last week at a discount of up to 22.7 euros a barrel to dated Brent, media reports said.
The delivery is scheduled by the month of May, newspapers quoting unnamed Indian officials said.
A second refiner too made a rare purchase of two million barrels of the Ural brand of Russian oil while a third has floated tenders seeking one million barrels of similar crude, added Press Trust of India (PTI) official news wire agency.
India trawls oil markets
The government in Delhi has not commented on the reported deals but Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri said India would examine Russian offers to sell discounted oil including issues of insurance and transportation.
"In a situation like the one characterised by the pandemic in the last two years and in the last few weeks by a war or a military action taking place between Russia and Ukraine, the government will explore all options which are available," he added.
White House press secretary Jennifer Psaki has said the purchases of Russian oil wouldn’t violate US sanctions but she urged India to “think about where you want to stand when history books are written”.
Jen Psaki on if India accepts Russian oil at a reduced costs: "[T]hink about where you want to stand when the history books are written in this moment in time, and support for the Russian leadership is support for an invasion that obviously is having a devastating impact." pic.twitter.com/M8AqWaEjol
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) March 15, 2022
Western sanctions
The United States said it was banning Russian oil and gas imports while Britain announced plans to phase out Russian fuel by the end of 2022 as part of wider Western sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine.
The European Union promises to make the 27-nation region independent from Russian energy “well before 2030”, while Germany has acted against the opening of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from the Communist state.
In Delhi, foreign ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said India, world’s third biggest oil consumer, was trawling international markets.
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“We are always exploring all possibilities in global energy markets because of the situation of importing our oil requirements,” he told a news conference on Thursday.
“A number of countries are importing energy from Russia, especially in Europe. I will leave it at that,” Bagchi said when asked if India planned to buy more oil from Russia.
Iraq is India's top supplier with a 27 percent share, with Saudi Arabia second at 17 percent, followed by the United Arab Emirates at 13 percent and the US at 9 percent, according to PTI.
MEA of #India response on importing #Russian #Oil.
— YN (@Bverse07) March 17, 2022
A lot of countries from #Europe are importing energy from Russia , Russia is not a major oil exporter to India. We are a major oil impoter and are exploring different markets. pic.twitter.com/Y8Ihnm9mNj
National interest
Analysts and diplomats said it will be perhaps unfair to judge energy-dependent India, which imports up to 85 percent of its daily need of 4.5 million barrels of oil.
“And so it does not matter from where we get our oil supplies but we must safeguard our national interests,” Shivaji Sarkar, dean of Mangalayatan University, told RFI.
Sarkar also argued that since India has not taken sides in the war on Ukraine, it can have ties with both the US and Russia, Delhi’s long-term weapons supplier.
“It is not the ideal situation to be in but India’s independent decisions have to be, must be respected,” a Delhi-based European diplomat added.
On Friday, Ali Chegeni, Iranian ambassador in Delhi, said Tehran was ready to meet India's needs through a rupee-rial trade regime for oil and gas.
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