Indian Oil Corp buys its first Johann Sverdrup raw carrot

Two trade sources told Reuters on Monday that the refinery Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in the state bought Johan Svedrup of Norway through crude for four million dollars.

Sources said the IOC would take delivery of two million barrels of Northesa crude every May and June.

The move comes in a retrospective agreement between India, the world’s third-largest crude oil importer, and Saudi Arabia, the de-facto leader of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), calling on the Indian government to depend on crude oil from the Middle East. Follows

India has complained that long-running OPEC production cuts have created uncertainty for customers and led to a surge in prices, creating fiscal challenges for a country where recent heavy- High fuel prices had touched record highs, anticipating economic losses.

Indian state refiners – top refiners IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd – plan to cut imports from Saudi Arabia by about a quarter in May.

Oil from Johann Sverdrop, the largest North Sea discovery in more than three decades, began to flow to Asia’s top oilporters at the end of 2019, with India’s first Reliance Industries Limited joining its first takers.

While the grade has gained popularity among Chinese dependency refineries, it has still been supplied in India, trade flow data at the Refinitive Econ show.

India last discharged 1 million barrels of cargo of Johanneswarup crude in September 2020.

Chinese refiners have slowed down raw purchases in seasonal refinery maintenance and large flows of crude oil, putting pressure on seasonal refinery maintenance and global oil vendors.

Trade sources say Indian refiners, meanwhile, are looking at crude oil from alternative options in the United States, West Africa, South America and the Mediterranean.

Last month, HPCL-Mittal Energy loaded Lisa Light Sweet Crude from Guyana, India’s first freight train.

Another state refiner, BPCL, bought three million barrels of UUS. A trade source said light sweet grades including West Texas Intermediate Midland and Eagle Ford to come in May.