Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, bought 3 mln bbl of Russian Urals from trader Vitol for May delivery, trade sources said, its first purchase of the grade since Russia invaded Ukraine, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Western sanctions against Russia have led many companies and countries to shun its oil, depressing Russian crude to record discount levels. IOC said in late February it would buy Russian oil on delivered basis to avoid any complication relating to fixing vessels and insurance.
Sources said IOC does not see any problem in paying for the cargo as oil as a commodity is not banned and it was not dealing with a sanctioned entity. Vitol sold the cargoes at a discount of USD20-25 a bbl to dated Brent, one of the sources said. The companies typically do not comment on commercial deals.
Separately, IOC also bought 2 MM bbl of Abu Dhabi's Murban crude and one mln bbl each of Nigeria's Akpo and Forcados, and Cameroon's Kole, they said. Price details were not immediately available.
As per MRC, Rosneft signed a deal to supply refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) with up to 2 million tonnes of crude next year. The deal was signed on Monday among a number of other agreements made during the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India. Rosneft will supply up to 2 million tonnes of Russian oil loading from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. The deal follows several supply agreements between the companies in recent years.
We remind, Indian Oil Corp. (IOC), the country's top refiner, will increase crude purchases from Iraq by 11.5% in 2022 to 390,000 bpd, partly to make up for a shortfall from Mexico and a possible supply cut from Kuwait. Iraq is the top supplier of oil to India and its market share there is set to rise as another refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp. will also buy more crude from the Middle Eastern nation. India is the world's third biggest oil importer.
mrchub.com