Reliance, Indian Oil flock to US crude oil after crackdown on Russian barrels

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Indian refiners have stepped up their purchases of US crude after price drops, as Washington cracks down on the Asian nation for buying Russian barrels.

Indian refiners have stepped up their purchases of US crude oil after price drops.(REUTERS)

This week, state and private oil processors including Reliance Industries Ltd., Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. bought more US West Texas Intermediate crude than normal, Bloomberg reported, citing traders who asked not to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media. The main driver was more favourable prices for the grade, which have weakened relative to Middle East benchmarks, they said.

Reliance Industries, Indian Oil and BPCL didn’t immediately respond to Bloomberg's requests for comment.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro earlier this week cranked up pressure on India to halt its purchases of Russian oil, repeating accusations that New Delhi is funding the Kremlin’s campaign in Ukraine. The remarks came after the Trump administration doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50%.

New Delhi has defended its ties with Russia and called Washington’s actions “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.” It has eased, but not stopped, purchases since US criticism began to ramp up.

Russian Hangover

Still, India's imports of Russia crude oil are set to rise in September despite a 50% Trump tariff in effect, Reuters reported on Thursday (28 August 2025).

Indian refiners—led by Reliance Industries and Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy—are likely to increase Russian oil purchases by 10-20%, or by 150,000-300,000 barrels per day, from August levels, three trading sources said. The sources, who cited preliminary purchases data, could not be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the issue.

Russian producers are likely to cut prices to sell more crude because they cannot process as much in refineries that were damaged by Ukraine's drone attacks on Moscow's energy infrastructure.

Without India, Russia would struggle to maintain exports at existing levels, and that would cut the oil export revenues that finance the Kremlin's budget and Russia's continued war in Ukraine.

Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. India's oil ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

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