Russian oil discounts for India set to rise

Currently, the discounts are in the range of $4-6 per barrel and may reach $10-12 per barrel soon

- Rituraj Baruah & Vaageesh Thirumalai

Discounts on Russian oil purchased by Indian refiners are likely to increase going ahead with a fall in global demand and India looking at further diversifying its supplies.

People in the know of the developments said that currently the discounts are in the range of $4-6 per barrel and may reach $10-12 per barrel soon.

"A dip in global demand has forced exporting countries to sweeten their offers and with a fall in oil prices Russia also would try to cater more to India, which has been a major procurer of its supplies in the past two years," said an industry stakeholder requesting anonymity.

Further, a recent dip in import from Russia is expected to boost discounts on supplies from the country. Data from Platts (part of S&P Global Commodity Insights) showed that Russian crude exports to India hit the lowest level of 2023 in November at 1.3 million barrels.