India hasn’t stopped buying Russia oil, say reports day after Trump’s claim
Government sources have reportedly said India’s energy purchases are determined by national interests and market forces
In what could snowball into another heated disagreement with US President Donald Trump, media reports cited sources in the Indian government as saying on Saturday (August 2) that there has been no pause on importing oil from Russia.
The sources reportedly asserted that India’s energy purchases are propelled by national interests and market forces and there were no reports of the country’s oil companies stopping Russian energy imports.
Government sources quoted by ANI said Indian oil refiners continue to source crude from Russian suppliers, with procurement decisions based on economic factors such as crude grade, price, inventories, logistics, and long-term contracts.
Read: Trump says ‘he heard India will stop buying Russian oil’, calls it a good step
Heard about India not buying Russian oil: Trump
The words come just a day after the US president, while speaking to reporters in Washington DC, said that he had “heard” about India not buying oil from Russia any longer. Conceding that he was sure about the report’s accuracy, the US president called it “a good step”.
“I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia. That's what I heard. I don't know if that's right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens,” he remarked.
India’s state refiners stopped buying from Russia?
On Thursday (July 31), Reuters reported citing sources in the energy industry that state refiners in India have stopped buying oil from Russia in the past week in the wake of Trump’s warning.
India, the world's third-largest oil importer, is the largest buyer of seaborne Russian crude.
Also read: Trump’s tariff hits Indian textiles: Tiruppur exporters under pressure
The state refiners, Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd, did not seek Russian crude in the past week or so, the agency cited quite a few sources, who are familiar with the refiners’ buying plans, as saying.
However, refineries such as IOC, BPCL, HPCL and MRPL or the oil ministry did not make any official statement, it added.
Russia is the world's second-biggest producer of crude with an output of about 9.5 million barrels a day or nearly 10 per cent of global demand. It is also the second largest exporter, providing around 4.5 million barrels of crude and 2.3 million barrels of refined products a day.
‘India’s decision based on market, global realities’
On Friday, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, was asked about reports that the Indian oil firms have halted purchasing oil from Russia in the past week. He said India takes decisions based on the price at which the energy commodity is available in the international market and the prevailing global situation. He evaded the question on stopping import, saying he was not aware of specifics.
Also read: Why Trump tariff could seriously dent Indian economy in multiple ways
He also said India’s ties with any country is based on their merit and should not be viewed from the prism of a third country. “As far as India-Russia relations are concerned, we have a steady and time-tested partnership,” the MEA official remarked.
On Wednesday (July 300, Trump announced imposing 25 per cent tariff on exports from India along with an unspecified penalty for New Delhi’s military and energy purchases from Moscow, one of its time-tested allies.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president also said he did not care what India did with Russia and that the two could take their “dead economies” down together, a term which sparked an outrage in India’s political circles.
Political voices in the US have warned that the Trump administration would impose steep tariffs on countries that continue to buy oil from Russia, including India and China. New Delhi has continued to buy energy from Russia despite the Vladimir Putin regime waging a devastating military mission against Ukraine since February 2022, which has attracted sanctions from the West.
The Kremlin’s refusal to scale back the offensive against Kiev has left Trump, who has shown himself as a pro-peace leader six months into his second stint at the White House, frustrated.
(With inputs from agencies)