The World's Largest Refinery Changes Its Stance on Russian Oil: Resuming Purchases
Jamnagar Refinery (НПЗ «Джамнагаре»). Image.
Reliance Industries, which owns the world's largest refinery, has resumed purchasing Russian oil.
Bloomberg quoted sources as saying, "Reliance Industries Ltd. has resumed purchasing Russian oil at low prices from un-sanctioned suppliers and transporting it to its own refinery in Gujarat."
It was reported that the operator of India's largest refinery (located in Jamnagar) signed a contract with the Russian export company RusExport to supply oil via Aframax tankers to meet domestic demand.
The news agency further noted, "This company's return to the market could ease the decline in India's purchases of Russian oil. According to officials, this month's purchases may have dropped by more than half."
Previously, Bloomberg reported that tankers carrying Russian oil were accumulating along the coasts of relevant countries, and the shipping costs at Russian ports had dropped to $34 per barrel.
In November, after the US imposed sanctions on two major Russian oil companies - Rosneft and Lukoil, some Indian refineries suspended their purchases. However, major state-owned companies such as Indian Oil, and Nayara Energy, which has shares owned by Rosneft, continued to purchase. Indian Oil stated that it would continue to purchase Russian oil from un-sanctioned suppliers.
Goldman Sachs and the International Energy Agency said that the number of new Russian oil suppliers is increasing. Despite a significant reduction of 1.1 million barrels per day in exports from Rosneft and Lukoil, new suppliers have increased their daily exports by 1 million barrels.
According to TASS, the first sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Russia targeted major Russian oil companies, pleasing Western allies in Ukraine. However, at the same time, the market and experts reacted more calmly to the new sanctions. They believe that the main buyers of Russian oil will temporarily refuse to purchase Russian crude oil, but this is only temporary.
Igor Yushkov, chief analyst at the Russian Federation's Institute of Energy and Finance (ФНЭБ) and an expert at the Russian Government's Financial University, said, "Of course, due to the sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, the logistics plans of intermediaries will have to be adjusted, but this is just changing the way we sell our oil, not the principle of whether to buy Russian oil itself."
Sergey Vakulenko, senior researcher at the Carnegie Center in Berlin, pointed out that large refineries in relevant countries and India may temporarily show willingness to abandon the purchase of Lukoil and Rosneft oil, but this is only to restart buying when Trump's attention shifts elsewhere (such as Venezuela). "Smaller purchasers will not even do this."
Original: toutiao.com/article/7588783283501154867/
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