Russia offering oil to India at huge discounted price: Reports

According to a Bloomberg report, Russia is offering flagship Urals grade to India at discounts of as much as $35 a barrel on prices before the war to lure India to lift more shipments. The western nations have issued sanctions against Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine

New Delhi: Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to pushbacks from western nations and amid growing international pressure, the country has been offering India steep discounts on the direct sale of oil. According to a Bloomberg report, Russia is offering flagship Urals grade to India at discounts of as much as $35 a barrel on prices before the war to lure India to lift more shipments. " Headline Brent prices have risen about $10 since then, implying an even larger reduction from current prices," the Bloomberg report mentioned.

Earlier on Thursday (March 31), there were reports that the US has cautioned that there will be consequences for countries actively attempting to "circumvent or backfill" American sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine and said it would not like to see a "rapid" acceleration in India's import of energy and other commodities from Russia.

But US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said that every country has its own relationship with Moscow and Washington is not seeking any change in that. "Different countries are going to have their own relationship with the Russian Federation. It`s a fact of history. It`s a fact of geography. That is not something that we are seeking to change," Price said during a press briefing.

Additionally, Russia has also offered rupee-ruble-denominated payments using Russia’s messaging system SPFS, which could make trading more attractive for India, mentioned the Bloomberg report.

Since Western sanctions were imposed on Russian entities after Moscow invaded Ukraine, India has bought at least 13 million barrels of Russian crude oil, compared with about 16 million barrels for all of last year, according to Reuters data. Indian Oil Corp has a contract with Russian oil company Rosneft that gives India`s top refiner an option to buy up to 2 million tonnes, equivalent to about 15 million barrels, of Urals in 2022. "I think it's natural for countries to go out into the market and look for what are good deals for their people," India's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said. "I am pretty sure if we wait two or three months and actually look at who are the big buyers of Russian gas and oil, I suspect the list won`t be very different from what it used to be."