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India’s Reliance Snaps Up 15 Million Barrels Of Cheap Russian Oil
Indian private conglomerate Reliance Industries has purchased at least 15 million barrels of discounted Russian crude since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported on Friday, citing trade sources and tanker data, as Indian refiners take advantage of record discounts for Russia’s crude shunned in the West.
Reliance Industries—which owns the biggest refinery in India and the biggest refining hub in the world, Jamnagar—has bought on average 5 million barrels of Russian crude for delivery in each month between April and June, according to Reuters’ sources.
Reliance Industries is buying Urals—whose primary destination before the war was Europe—and is set to receive its first shipment of the ESPO crude, which is typically delivered to China, per Refinitiv tanker data cited by Reuters.
Since the beginning of the Russian war in Ukraine, India—a price-sensitive crude buyer who has criticized OPEC and OPEC+ for keeping oil prices “artificially high”—has increased its purchases of Russian crude. Before the war, Indian refiners rarely bought oil from Russia at such a scale because of high freight costs. Now the cheaper Russian barrels—with the flagship Urals grade being offered at a massive $30 a barrel discount to Dated Brent—appear irresistible for Indian refiners, despite warnings from the United States that buying Putin’s oil is not in the best interest of India.