India has continued buying Russian oil before, during and after US sanctions waivers, a senior petroleum ministry official said on Monday, as refiners and traders indicated that supplies remain available despite the latest expiry of the American exemption.
Sujata Sharma, joint secretary in the petroleum ministry, said India’s crude purchases from Russia have not depended on the US waiver framework and are driven by commercial considerations.
“Regarding (the) American waiver on Russia, I would like to emphasize that we have been purchasing from Russia earlier ... I mean before waiver also, during waiver also, and now also,” Sharma said during a media briefing.
“It is basically the commercial sense which should be there for us to purchase ... There is no shortage of crude. Enough crude has been tied up repeatedly ... and this, whatever waiver or no waiver, it will not affect,” she said.
The comments came after the United States allowed a waiver covering some Russian crude purchases to expire over the weekend. The waiver had permitted transactions involving Russian oil cargoes already loaded on tankers.
The US first issued a waiver in March and later expanded it through an authorization valid until May 16 to help ease pressure on global oil prices through additional supply. While Russian crude is not under blanket sanctions, Washington has earlier urged India to reduce discounted purchases from Moscow following the Russia-Ukraine war.
According to a Bloomberg report, Indian refiners are expected to manage any supply disruption because of weaker domestic demand and the availability of prompt crude cargoes from the US, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Iraq.
Traders told Bloomberg that China’s limited participation in the spot market has also helped preserve supply availability, while maintenance shutdowns at Reliance Industries Ltd. and Nayara Energy Ltd. have reduced purchases by private refiners.
Discounted Russian crude has become a major source of supply for India since 2022 after Western sanctions reshaped global oil trade flows following the Ukraine war. Indian refiners had briefly reduced purchases last year under pressure from Washington, but imports later recovered strongly.
Kpler data cited by Bloomberg showed India’s Russian oil imports in May are expected to remain near 1.9 million barrels per day, close to peak levels.
Bloomberg also reported that Russian crude held in floating storage has risen to more than 7 million barrels globally, up fivefold from a month ago, partly because refinery maintenance in India slowed processing demand.
“There are limited alternatives available at similar scale and pricing, particularly in a market still dealing with geopolitical uncertainty and uneven Middle Eastern flows,” Sumit Ritolia, modelling and refining manager at Kpler Ltd., told Bloomberg. “India is unlikely to move away from Russian crude in the near term.”
Indian refiners are also understood to expect that Washington could still extend the waiver again, Bloomberg reported. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said in April that the waiver would not be renewed, but the administration later issued another short-term extension.
Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said India has around 60 days of crude oil and LNG reserves and about 45 days of LPG stockpiles.
“We have not had any difficulty in getting the crudes which we want,” Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Chairman Vikas Kaushal told analysts last week. “Of course, I would wish they were coming to me $30 cheaper than what they are coming in at, but that’s a different aspect.”
