The United States has informed India it will probably quickly resume purchases of Venezuelan oil to cut back its reliance on Russian crude, Reuters reported. The transfer is an element of a broader US effort to redirect India’s oil imports away from Russia whereas reshaping power ties between the 2 international locations. In accordance to sources quoted by Reuters, India is now on observe to reduce Russian crude imports by a number of hundred thousand barrels per day within the coming months.The US choice to pitch Venezualan oil to India comes amid broader diplomatic engagement between New Delhi and Caracas. Venezuela interim president Delcy Rodríguez on Friday stated she had agreed with India on power cooperation throughout a phone name with PM Modi, a day after Venezuela opened its hydrocarbons sector to personal firms. PM Modi additionally in a publish on X stated they “agreed to additional deepen and increase our bilateral partnership in all areas, with a shared imaginative and prescient of taking India‑Venezuela relations to new heights within the years forward.”Venezuela, which sits on the world’s largest confirmed oil reserves, not too long ago reformed legal guidelines to open the sector to personal funding, a significant shift from a long time of state management designed to appeal to international capital and revive its battered oil trade.
US sanctions and Venezuelan oil
President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs in March 2025 on international locations shopping for Venezuelan oil, together with India, as his administration intensified its marketing campaign towards Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. US forces captured Maduro on January 3, after which Washington started directing the Caracas authorities and introduced plans to management Venezuela’s oil trade indefinitely.
India’s declining Russian oil imports
India grew to become a significant purchaser of Russian oil after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered Western sanctions that pushed costs decrease. Nevertheless, rising US stress and rising commerce prices have pushed India to diversify its crude provide. Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri stated final week that India is increasing its sources as Russian imports decline.Two sources stated India is getting ready to cut back Russian oil imports to beneath a million barrels per day quickly. Imports have been round 1.2 million bpd in January and are anticipated to fall to about 1 million bpd in February and round 800,000 bpd in March, one supply stated. One other supply stated imports might finally decline to about 500,000–600,000 bpd, serving to India clinch a commerce cope with america.US tariffs on Indian items reached 50% in August after Washington added an additional 25% levy over purchases of Russian oil. Operational challenges created by Western sanctions have additionally prompted Indian refiners to enhance imports from different suppliers.Commerce information confirmed India’s Russian oil imports fell to their lowest degree in two years in December, lifting OPEC’s share of Indian imports to an 11-month excessive. Refiners have stepped up purchases from Center Japanese, African and South American producers to offset decreased Russian provides.A number of refiners have already reduce ties with Russian crude. State-run Hindustan Petroleum and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, together with personal refiner HPCL-Mittal Power, have stopped shopping for Russian oil. Different state refiners, together with Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, have slowed purchases, officers stated on the India Power Week convention this week. A non-public operator of the world’s largest refining complicated plans to buy up to 150,000 bpd of Russian oil from February, an organization supply stated.The effort to provide Venezuelan crude to India additionally aligns with Washington’s purpose of chopping Russian oil revenues which are funding the struggle in Ukraine. Reuters sources didn’t say whether or not the Venezuelan oil could be offered by means of buying and selling homes resembling Vitol or Trafigura or instantly by Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA.
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