Indian Oil-led refiners seek to fully revive Russia oil imports in pushback to US tariffs

Subscribe

India's state-owned oil refiners, led by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd., want to fully revive Russian oil imports in a pushback against US tariffs, but plans have been set back due to a lack of cargoes.

The US has imposed 50% tariffs on India, alleging that New Delhi's Russian oil imports are fuelling Moscow's Ukraine war.(Reuters)

The refiners are getting fewer offers for October-loading Russian cargoes, people aware of the matter told Bloomberg, asking not to be identified given the sensitivity of the trade. Russian barrels had been redirected to China, even as they faced heightened competition from other nations.

The global oil market is focused on buying patterns by Indian processors after Washington DC tried to squeeze shipments from Russia by raising US tariffs on most imports to 50%. The initiative met with stiff resistance from New Delhi, and while the levies remain in place, the Trump administration has softened its rhetoric in recent days.

At the same time, crude traders are also trying to figure out the implications of an OPEC+ decision at the weekend to ease supply curbs even further. That means several producers within the group, including major shippers in the Middle East, have more leeway to offer exports, along with Moscow.

Emails seeking comment sent to India’s four state-owed refiners—Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd., and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd.—didn’t get immediate replies.

On Friday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the country would continue to buy oil from Russia, underlining the government’s intent to defy US pressure. Earlier, Union Oil Minister Hardeep Puri had rebutted the US stance on India's Russian oil imports in a newspaper column.

In the four weeks to 31 August, Russia’s seaborne crude flows to India eased to 1.3 million barrels a day from 1.97 million in March, as China picked up the slack, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg .

New Delhi’s imports from Moscow next month could drop by a quarter of a million barrels a day, FGE NexantECA Chairman Emeritus Fereidun Fesharaki told Bloomberg TV on Monday, adding that India’s peak buying was over.

The US levies on India are meant to raise pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. Washington and Europe were discussing new sanctions and secondary tariffs on Russia, hoping that an economic “collapse” would bring Vladimir Putin to peace talks, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said over the weekend.

See Less