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Indian Refiners Shift Crude Sourcing Amid Russia Sanctions
4 Aug
Summary
- IOC, India's top refiner, buys 7 million barrels of crude from US, Canada, and Middle East
- Purchase comes as Indian state refiners pause buying Russian crude due to narrowing discounts
- Purchases partly to replace Russian barrels amid additional EU sanctions on Russian energy trade
As of August 4th, 2025, India's top refiner, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), has purchased 7 million barrels of crude oil from the United States, Canada, and the Middle East. This large spot crude purchase comes after the arbitrage window for US crude to Asia opened and as Indian state refiners paused buying of Russian crude oil due to narrowing discounts.
The purchases include 4.5 million barrels of US crude, 500,000 barrels of Canada's Western Canadian Select (WCS), and 2 million barrels of Das oil produced in Abu Dhabi. The higher-than-normal purchases are partly to replace Russian barrels, as Indian state refiners - IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd - had not sought Russian crude in the past week or so.
The move by Indian refiners to diversify their crude sources comes amid additional sanctions by the European Union on the Russian energy trade. US President Donald Trump had previously warned countries against purchasing oil from Moscow, which is under sanctions over its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
