India’s biggest state-owned oil companies seek long-term supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the United States for the first time, according to tender documents Bloomberg has reviewed.
Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPRL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) are seeking long-term deals with the U.S. for the first time, as global flows of the cooking fuel have been upended in recent months with the Trump Administration’s trade policies.
India has long-term deals to procure LPG from Saudi Arabia. Now it seeks U.S. LPG supply, after signaling it would seek to buy more of America’s energy products to appease the U.S. Administration and prompt it to review the 50% tariffs on Indian goods.
The U.S. introduced the massive tariff in early August, doubling the previous 25% tariff due to India’s continued imports of crude oil from Russia.
Supply of LPG from the Middle East and the U.S. is rising this year.
Middle East LPG exports hit a record high in September at 1.46 million barrels per day (bpd), up by nearly 200,000 bpd from the same month last year, according to Vortexa data.
U.S. LPG exports also hit a record high last month, with LPG production up by 3.5% year to date, Samantha Hartke, Head of Market Analysis, Americas, at Vortexa, noted.
Year-to-date, 46% of total global LPG exports departed from the U.S. with Northeast Asia destinations accounting for 39% of the destinations. In contrast, LPG from the Middle East represented 33% of the global total, per data tracked by Vortexa.
While India is reportedly looking to sign long-term LPG deals with the U.S., it is not giving up on Russian crude.
India’s crude oil imports from Russia dropped by about 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) in September compared to August as Indian refiners expand crude sources amid ongoing U.S.-India trade talks and U.S. pressure to stop importing Russian oil and prop up the Kremlin’s energy revenues. While Indian crude oil imports from Russia slipped last month, they still accounted for about a third of all crude arrivals in the country.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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