New Delhi: The US has reached out to India to buy Russian oil and help ease global prices. This claim was made by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright in an interview to ABC News. However, he said that this was a temporary measure to move stored crude into refineries.
‘Need oil in market in short term’: Wright
Wright was quoted as saying in the ABC News interview, ” We have reached out to our friends in India to buy stored Russian oil. That pulls oil into Indian refineries and releases pressure on other global refineries.”
Breaking: US has reached out to India for help to reduce oil prices
“We have reached out to our friends in India to buy stored Russian oil. That pulls oil into Indian refineries and releases pressure on other global refineries,” says US Energy Secretary Chris Wright pic.twitter.com/O999HcpNoy
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He said that this temporary measure was meant to move stored crude into refineries and prevent a rise in oil prices. This measure was necessary due to shipping constraints in the Strait of Hormuz.
Wright said that there was a need to get oil in the market in the short term. He added that in the long term, there were abundance of supplies and there was no need for panic.
The US had given a waiver to India on Friday, for 30 days to buy Russian oil. This was also a way of tackling the rise in oil prices. Wright said that the US had identified several tankers near the Asian markets, which have Russian oil. This is the oil from Russia, originally meant to be sold in China, but it has yet not been taken by the buyers.
According to Wright, the US has now reached out to India to buy all that oil from these stranded Russian oil tankers and then move them to refineries. This will help pull down oil prices in the global market, he added.
This approach is mainly meant to reduce competition among global refiners for other available supplies, said the US official.
Disruptions in oil supply
Meanwhile, one must note that due to the ongoing war between Israel-US and Iran, oil markets have faced pressure. The Strait of Hormuz, is a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman is a narrow waterway and is the most critical oil transit route in the world. Shipping through this waterway is constrained, leading to rise in oil prices.
The Strait of Hormuz carries around one-fifth of the world’s oil shipment. Any tensions in the region immediately impact the oil prices across the world.
The US Energy Secretary however clarified that this was just a short term measure. He said that this does not signal any change in his country’s policy towards Russia. He described the measure as a “very brief measure” to keep oil prices down.
India on the other hand has been a major buyer of Russian oil. It is one of the largest importers of crude oil and has expanded its purchases from Russia, despite sanctions imposed on Russia, following the Ukraine war.