India has reduced purchases of Russian crude oil, which indicates a significant impact of Western sanctions and trade negotiations with the United States. This is reported by Dengi.ua with reference to Bloomberg .
According to anonymous sources, five major Indian refineries have not placed orders for Russian oil for the next month. Normally, deals for next month's oil supply are concluded before the 10th of the current month.
The five refineries -- Reliance Industries Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd. - accounted for two-thirds of Russia's crude oil imports to India since the beginning of the year.
Their caution may be partly due to trade talks between New Delhi and Washington, the publication explained. US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the two countries are "pretty close" to a deal. Sources said India has pledged to buy more crude oil from the US as part of the talks.
Only two refiners, Indian Oil Corp. and Nayara Energy Ltd. - bought Russian crude for December. IOC bought from non-sanctioned sellers, while Nayara, whose stake is owned by Russia's Rosneft, continues to rely solely on Russian crude.
This year, 36% of India's crude imports have been purchased from Russia, but the looming global oil glut will make it much easier to find alternatives.
IOC has sought to buy up to 24 million barrels of crude from the Americas with delivery in January-March, while Hindustan Petroleum recently bought 4 million barrels of US and Middle Eastern grades with delivery in January.
Refiners have also turned to suppliers in the Persian Gulf to make up for the loss of Russian crude.