Alexey Gromov, Principal Director on Energy studies of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Oil and Capital Internet portal on the situation around Russian oil supplies to India.
As Alexey Gromov noted, at the current moment there is a situation where there is a lot of oil on the market, so the conditions are dictated by the buyer. If Russia does not find alternative buyers, it will eventually have to ship a batch from Sokol in India at a large discount.
But it is also impossible to completely exclude the reversal of tankers to other sea harbors. There was already one example with the same Sokol, when a batch originally intended for Indian refineries was eventually shipped to the Chinese port of Qingdao.
"Sokol traditionally trades at a premium due to its characteristics, so now such oil does not fit into the price cap in any way. However, Indian refineries have been increasingly purchasing Middle Eastern and Venezuelan oil in recent months, proving in practice that the Russian grade is quite replaceable for them. Of course, New Delhi justifies its bargain for a discount by allegedly having to comply with Western sanctions, which it is afraid to fall under. But India is doing this, first of all, simply because it can. At the moment, Russia has no leverage over India and will have to adapt to the behavior of such a trading partner," the expert says.
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