India's Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri has announced that his country will reduce its dependence on Russian oil supplies. According to him, the Persian Gulf countries are making more attractive offers.
Source. This was reported by Bloomberg.
The minister noted that the state is not directly involved in planning oil purchases by refiners, but makes sure that the price ceilings set by the G7 countries are respected.
After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, India increased its oil exports from Russia, which allowed it to overtake Iraq and Saudi Arabia and become India's main oil supplier. However, rising oil prices and decreasing discounts on Russian grades have again made other sources of oil more attractive.
Oil imports from Russia continue to fall for the third month in a row. In August, it amounted to 1.57 million barrels per day, which is 24% less than in July. India continues to be the main exporter of Russian oil.
Earlier it became known that Russian exporters cannot receive money for oil sold to India.
After a partial switch to settlements with Russia in rupees, about $39 billion was "stuck" in Indian banks.
However, the Indian Central Bank prohibits the withdrawal of the rupee from the country, and Russians have virtually no reason to spend significant amounts in this currency within India.
Background. As reported, Russia cannot receive $39 billion for the oil it sold to India – the money is stuck in Indian banks.