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Indian refiners seek more Saudi oil after price cut

By Pramod Kumar
Saudi Aramco employees on site. Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum plan to import an additional one million bpd each from Saudi Aramco Reuters
Saudi Aramco employees on site. Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum plan to import an additional one million bpd each from Saudi Aramco

Two Indian state refiners plan to increase crude imports from Saudi Arabia after Saudi Aramco cut the official selling price (OSP) for its flagship crude for February.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation are exploring the option of importing an additional one million barrels of oil each from Saudi Aramco next month, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources.

IOC is seeking more oil from the kingdom and West Africa amid challenges in payments to buy Russian light sweet crude Sokol, one of the sources said.

India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, has been importing Russian discounted crude following restrictions by Western nations over Ukraine’s invasion.

Earlier this month, sources told Reuters that Aramco, the world’s top oil exporter, could cut the OSP for its Arab Light crude over Oman/Dubai crude quotes by about $1.70 a barrel in February from the previous month.

Aramco’s OSPs are usually released around the fifth of each month and set the trend for Iranian, Kuwaiti, and Iraqi prices, affecting about nine million barrels per day of crude bound for Asia.

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