India and Russia strengthen energy ties. Customers don’t say no…
Top executives of Russia's biggest energy companies are expected to attend the India Energy Week summit this week, signaling that Russia and India are strengthening their energy ties now that India is a major customer of Russian oil.
Before the invasion of Ukraine, India was a small fringe buyer of Russian crude. After Western buyers started avoiding crude oil from Russia, India became a top destination for Russian oil exports alongside China.
Russia is now India's top oil supplier, after overtaking Iraq in November. India's imports of Russian crude oil are estimated to have hit a record high of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in December as steep discounts on Russian crude when the cap came into effect made India the largest main destination of Russian oil.
Even after the price cap went into effect, India continued to buy large volumes of discounted Russian crude oil and started importing some of Russia's Arctic crude varieties for the first time, taking advantage of cheap Russian cargoes to meet the high demand.
In a further sign of increased energy cooperation, Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin and Novatek Chairman Leonid Mikhelson are participating in the ongoing India Energy Week.
Sechin told the summit that the price of Russia's flagship Urals crude blend was no longer set by Europe but by Asia, which has become the largest export market for the Russian commodity. “If Russian oil doesn't enter the European market, then there is no reference price. Benchmark prices will form where oil volumes actually go,” Sechin said, as quoted by Reuters.
India, for its part, will buy the oil it consumes from "wherever we have to" if the economy is beneficial for the country, which is the world's third-largest importer of crude oil, Indian Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh told CNBC on Tuesday. Pure.
“Today we are confident that we will be able to use our market to source wherever we need to, wherever we get advantageous terms,” the minister said.
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The article India and Russia strengthen energy ties. You don't say no to customers… it comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/india-e-russia-rafforzano-i-legami-energetici-ai-clienti-non-si-dice-no/ on Wed, 08 Feb 2023 07:00:32 +0000.