NEW DELHI, Mar 6: Indian refiners have begun snapping up millions of barrels of Russian oil floating in Asian waters after the US granted a waiver allowing purchase of cargoes stranded at sea, but are seeking legal opinion on whether the exemption also permits buying from sanctioned entities, sources said.
The US has issued a 30-day waiver allowing India to buy Russian oil currently stuck at sea in an effort to keep global supplies flowing and temper further price increases.
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Indian refiners have snapped up some 20 million barrels of Russian oil, mostly from non-sanctioned entities, they said, adding that the companies are seeking legal opinion if the waiver permits purchase of oil from even sanctioned entities.
They started buying Russian oil even before the US waiver came in as supplies from the Middle East were disrupted.
India had emerged as the largest buyer of Russian seaborne crude after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but its refiners began scaling back purchases in January amid pressure from Washington.
The reduction helped New Delhi avoid a proposed 25 per cent tariff on its exports and clinch an interim trade deal with the United States.
A top Oil Ministry official said New Delhi never completely stopped buying oil from Russia as part of its policy to source energy needs from diversified sources. At February end, before the US and Israel attacked Iran to trigger a wider conflict in the region, India bought some 1.04 million barrels per day of Russian oil.
This was lowest since November 2022 and half of peak 2.15 million barrels a day hit in May 2023.
The purchases, the official said, were from entities not sanctioned by the US.
As the widening West Asia conflict led to blockage of the crucial oil and gas transit route through the Strait of Hormuz and energy prices sources, the US gave a waiver to allow purchase from Russia.
The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has issued a licence allowing the delivery, sale and offloading of Russian-origin crude oil or petroleum products that were loaded on vessels before March 5, 2026, to buyers in India.
The licence authorises transactions related to the sale, delivery, and offloading of such cargoes at Indian ports until April 4, 2026, provided the purchaser is an entity organised under Indian law.
While the order says the licence is valid for buying crude available at sea, including on sanctioned vessels, it does not explicitly state if purchases can be made from sanctioned entities, another ministry official said.
The refiners will seek legal opinion if such purchases are allowed, the official said.
Sources said Indian refiners have stepped up purchases of Russian oil floating around.
About 15 million barrels of Russian crude are currently floating on tankers in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, while vessels carrying another 7 million barrels are idling near Singapore, cargoes that can reach Indian refiners within days. Additional tankers loaded with Russian oil are in the Mediterranean Sea and near the Suez Canal and could arrive at Indian ports within a month.
Sources said Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), which hadn’t purchased Russian oil since December, are back in the market. Reliance Industries Ltd, too, is seeking Russian oil deliveries.
With the widening West Asia conflict blocking shipments through the Strait of Hormuz and raising concerns over oil and LNG supplies from the Middle East, Indian refiners are balancing purchases from both Russian cargoes at sea and other sources to ensure an uninterrupted domestic fuel supply.
“President Trump’s energy agenda has resulted in oil and gas production reaching the highest levels ever recorded,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. (PTI)
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