India is not worried about the availability of oil. They only restrict purchases from Russia

Reliance Industries Ltd., the main private buyer of Russian crude oil in India, announced on Friday that it will respect sanctions imposed by the West on the import of this raw material from Russia.

In a special statement, the Indian company also assured that it intends to maintain relations with current oil suppliers. Reliance Industries is not only the largest buyer of Russian crude oil in India, but also the operator of the world's largest refinery complex – in Jamnagar, in the state of Gujarat in western India.

The CNBC portal reported, citing data from Kpler, which analyzes raw material data, that in September the Indian company purchased over 629,500 from the Russian companies Rosneft and Lukoil. barrels of oil per day, which accounted for more than one-third of India's total imports.

Friday's decision by the management board of Reliance Industries is a reaction to the sanctions that the United States imposed on Russian oil companies on Wednesday. Washington justified this decision by Moscow's “lack of serious commitment” to ending the war in Ukraine. According to a White House statement, the restrictions are intended to “weaken the Kremlin's ability to finance the war.”

In a comment on Reliance Industries' decision, raw material analyst Pankaj Srivastava, quoted by CNBC, expressed the opinion that “the availability of similar oil is not a problem” and it may come from the Middle East, Brazil or Guyana. He also emphasized that the Indian company “probably will not receive the same price.” According to Reuters, the 10-year contract between Reliance Industries and Rosneft signed in December last year was worth USD 12-13 billion per year.

According to the Center for Energy and Clean Air think tank, based in Helsinki, in September India was the world's second largest importer of Russian oil after China with a share of approximately 38%. (compared to 47% of Chinese imports).

Indian purchases of Russian crude oil have been a source of tension in Delhi's relations with Washington in recent months. For this reason, the US, among other things, imposed higher tariffs on Indian products (50 percent) than on products from other South Asian countries (20 percent tariffs on imports from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and 19 percent on imports from Pakistan). (PAP)

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