India’s imports of Russian crude are expected to continue declining as the world’s third-largest buyer of the fuel diversifies suppliers, Oil Minister Hardeep Puri said.
Shipments from Russia have already dropped to 1.3 million barrels per day from an average of 1.8 million barrels last year, he told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Tuesday.
“There is a declining trend,” Puri said. “These are market driven conditions.”
The US has heaped pressure on India’s purchases of Russian oil by imposing additional tariffs on the South Asian nation. Still, even as imports have come down, the flows have remained resilient partly due to an attractive discount.
There has been no mandate from the Indian government on Russian oil purchases, and companies are making their own decisions, the minister said. He noted that the country is now in a position to diversify its oil suppliers and currently buys from 41 nations.
Indian companies are keen to boost oil flows from Canada and the US, Puri added.
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