Reliance Industries Ltd has bought millions of barrels of crude oil from the Middle East and the US after Washington imposed sanctions on two Russian producers. The ET report quoted sources as saying that Reliance has purchased several grades of crude oil from Saudi Arabia’s Khafji, Iraq’s Basra Medium and Qatar’s Al-Shaheen as well as some US West Texas Intermediate crude oil. He said the goods are expected to be delivered in December or January.
Reliance has been India’s largest Russian oil importer by volume this year, sourcing crude through long-term contracts with Rosneft PJSC, one of the blacklisted companies. Although the company typically buys Middle Eastern grades of crude, recent purchases, including some made earlier this week before U.S. sanctions, have been more active than usual, traders said.
Rest of the buyers are also present in the market
Overall, Reliance has bought at least 10 million barrels of oil on the spot market this month, with the bulk coming from the Middle East, and most of the crude was bought after US penalties. However, no official statement has come from Reliance. Traders said other Indian refiners are also in the spot market, especially buying from the Middle East, America and Brazil. On Thursday, prices of oil of Omani grades were seen strong.
The special thing is that in the international market there was an increase of more than 5 percent in the prices of Brent crude oil of Gulf countries. Following sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil PJSC, flows of Russian oil to major Indian refiners, except Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy Ltd, are expected to fall sharply. Some Chinese companies have also stopped purchases assessing the impact of the US ban.
8 percent increase in 4 days
However, since October 20, there has been an increase of about 8 percent in the prices of crude oil in Gulf countries. Talking about the figures, on October 20, the price of Brent crude oil was at $ 61.01 per barrel. Which has increased to around $66 per barrel. This means that in 4 days there has been an increase of about $ 6 per barrel in the prices of Brent oil. The main reason for which is the increase in demand for crude oil from Gulf countries from the world’s big importers. Now it will be interesting to see that except Russian oil, Indian refiners focus only on Gulf countries.