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Indian Oil Corporation says not in talks for term crude import deal with Russia
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation’s largest oil firm, is not discussing a term or fixed quantity deal for import of Russian oil given the volatility in the international market, Chairman A S Sahney said on Wednesday. India’s import of Russian oil has surged since the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022. Russia was India’s top crude oil supplier for the third consecutive year in 2024-25, primarily driven by attractive discounts on Russian crude. The discounts, which have narrowed since, offset the logistical challenges and longer shipping times associated with sourcing oil from Russia.
Sahney said the share of Russian oil in the basket of oil that IOC imports for refining into fuels like petrol and diesel, has come down to 22-23 per cent from 30 per cent.
“It has to meet my requirements and also be commercially viable,” he told reporters here.
The crude, he said, has to fit into the company’s rigorous optimisation model which looks at producing the fuel that market wants from the most economically available source.
“It has to make commercial sense for me to import oil from a particular source,” he said, adding the decision is not driven by sanctions or any other geopolitical issue.
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