Russian crude faces delivery hurdles in India as sanctions bite

In an interview, Puri said, 'When Russian prices don’t conform, we buy from Iraq, the UAE, Saudi Arabia.'

By Rakesh Sharma

Russian crude oil tankers are facing some issues in delivering cargoes at Indian ports due to the enforcement of the price cap by the Group of Seven nations and challenges with shipping, the South Asian country’s Oil Minister Hardeep Puri said Tuesday.

“In the Russian case, it is a question of price cap, and it is also a question of some of their shipping entities coming under adverse notice of others,” Puri said at Bloomberg House in Davos in response to a question on why Russian crude cargoes are stuck at Indian ports.

“When Russian prices don’t conform, we buy from Iraq, the UAE, Saudi Arabia,” Puri said in an interview with Haslinda Amin.

Last month, the US tightened enforcement of the G-7’s Rs 4,987 ($60) price cap by sanctioning several traders of Russian oil.

The price cap is designed to limit Russia’s revenues from oil exports, denying it funds for the war in Ukraine, while ensuring the global economy remains well supplied.

India’s oil imports from Russia surged after the start of the war as Moscow offered heavy discounts. However, shipments fell in December to their lowest since January last year after sanctions were tightened.

Some crude tankers have delayed deliveries, taken a U-turn or turned off their transponders after failing to deliver at Indian ports. 

Puri said earlier this month that refiners had trimmed oil imports from Russia as discounts on cargoes weren’t attractive.

“We buy the oil at the point of delivery,” Puri said in Davos. If a country is not able to deliver because of sanctions imposed by others, India would not buy it," he said.

The world’s third-largest oil consumer depends on overseas supplies for 85 per cent of its demand, he said. 

Oil prices are hovering between Rs 5,818 ($70) and Rs 6,649 ($80) a barrel, but India wants “oil to be much cheaper because we are big consumers”, Puri said.