Indian State Refiners Struggle to Get Russian Crude

India’s state oil refiners are finding it hard to buy the volume of Russian crude they need, according to people familiar with the matter.

Oil executives from three of the nation’s government-owned processors said they haven’t been able to obtain enough Russian crude for January loading in the so-called spot market. The people, who have direct knowledge of their companies’ purchases, declined to be identified as they’re not authorized to speak publicly.

Executives from state refiners, including Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp., said they were unable to procure at least six million barrels of Urals crude they had sought from the spot market. It was unclear why there were fewer offers, although factors such as a long-term contract between Rosneft PJSC and Indian private refiner Reliance Industries Ltd., and higher Russian processing rates may have led to lower crude exports, they added.  

Separately, the people also said it could be Moscow’s way of reducing spot cargoes sold by traders in favor of long-term contracts done directly with Russian producers. Indian state refiners currently buy all their Russian crude through the spot market, while private firms do so via a combination of spot and long-term contracts.

Officials from the state-owned companies said there were alternative cargoes in the market from the Middle East and Africa, although supplies were pricier and would erode margins. Government refiners have bought about 1 million barrels a day of Russian crude so far this year, according to Kpler data. That’s drastically up from close to no imports before the Ukraine war. 

Moscow has been pressing Indian firms to lock in their imports via long-term contracts, which are usually done between Russia’s state-run firms such as Rosneft PJSC and Gazprom Neft PJSC, and Asian buyers, according to the executives. While New Delhi is also in favor of that, urging all state and private refiners such as Reliance to jointly negotiate for better terms, some government-linked processors haven’t been able to accept the offer price and terms, they said. 

In early December, Reuters reported that Reliance had proceeded to independently secure a 500,000 barrels-a-day deal with Rosneft for 10 years, a move that state companies say has weakened the country’s overall bargaining power. They added the deal has likely emboldened Russia to sell less in the spot market via traders, explaining the lack of spot cargoes. 

Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL didn’t immediately reply emails seeking comments on the issue. Indian Oil previously had a term contract with Russia for 490,000 barrels a day for the fiscal year ended March.