Analysis: Indian private refiners profit from cheap Russian crude as state refiners suffer
By Nidhi Verma and Gavin Maguire June 1, 2022
While many Western buyers are avoiding Russian crude in response to its invasion of Ukraine, Indian private refiners such as Reliance and Nayara have been among the biggest buyers this year of discounted Russian supplies.
They are reaping major profits by reducing domestic sales and aggressively boost fuel exports, including to buyers in Europe, which is now boycotting imports of Russian energy.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-private-refiners-profit-cheap-russian-crude-state-refiners-suffer-2022-06-01/
Fact check: Is India violating the EU oil embargo?
Astrid Prange June 30, 2022
Importing Russian crude at low prices and exporting the processed product at steep prices to the EU and US — India's refinery trade raises many questions. DW's fact check has a few answers.
Are oil exports to Europe lucrative for India?
Claim: " […] India refines Russian oil and sells the end product to the US and the EU. Really, that's capitalism at it's (sic) best," writes Dominik Lehmann, a member of the German Left Party.
DW fact check: Can't be proven.
It is true that India recently massively increased oil imports as well as oil exports. According to the Indian Ministry of Commerce, these totaled $15.99 billion (€15.12 billion) in April and May 2022. In the same period in 2021, the amount totaled $8.94 billion.
That leads CREA to conclude that Russian crude oil is being processed in India. The Rystad Energy international energy consulting firm agrees with this evaluation in a June 20 analysis: "The expectation that Russian crude would cease to be traded on international markets has not transpired, and instead the steep discount on Russian crude has seen vessels redirected to alternative markets. While the cost of financing these vessels and trades has increased significantly due to be freezing out of the Western financial system, the discount on Urals is too attractive for some refiners to ignore. As with Iranian oil in the past, once Russian crude is refined, it will become almost impossible to distinguish between those barrels and others as they re-enter the international market," Rystad Energy writes.
More:
https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-is-india-violating-the-eu-oil-embargo/a-62291074
Russian oil products are likely ending up in the US after being refined in India, report says
Phil Rosen June 1, 2022
Russian oil products are still reaching the US market because traders are obscuring their origin by blending crude and refining it elsewhere.
Supplies believed to be at least partially composed of Russian oil arrived in New York and New Jersey last month, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Those likely came from India — which has been buying discounted Russian barrels for months.
According to Kpler data cited by the Journal, a refinery owned by Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries bought seven times more Russian crude during May compared to before the war — good for about 20% of its total intake.
"What likely happened was Reliance took on a discounted cargo of Russian crude, refined it and then sold the product on the short-term market where it found a U.S. buyer," Lauri Myllyvirta, analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, told the Journal. "It does look like there's a trade where Russian crude is refined in India and then some of it is sold to the U.S."
More:
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/russian-oil-products-us-sanctions-refined-india-trade-ukraine-war-2022-6