Indian oil refiners scale back Russian oil purchases amid sanctions: Report
New Delhi: India has reduced its purchases of Russian crude oil for December, signaling the impact of Western sanctions and ongoing trade talks with the US, Bloomberg has reported.
According to Kashmir Media Service, at least five big Indian refiners haven’t placed any orders for Russian oil for next month, according to the report, which typically, should have been done by the 10th of the current month.
This development follows US actions in August, when President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on imports from India, including a 25% “penalty” on Russian oil purchases. Trump accused India of indirectly funding Russia’s war in Ukraine by continuing to buy its oil.
On Monday, when asked whether he was considering lowering the tariffs on India, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, “Right now the tariffs are very high on India because of the Russian oil and they’ve stopped doing the Russian oil. It’s been reduced very substantially. Yeah, we’re going to be bringing the tariffs down on India.”
Trump has claimed a few times in the past too that India will stop purchasing oil from Russia.
To one of these remarks in October, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs had issued a carefully worded response stating that New Delhi was already “diversifying” its sourcing.
In recent years, India has relied heavily on discounted Russian crude, which has been a key component in its energy strategy amid rising global oil prices.
