India has requested refiners to hurry up the diversification of imports to reduce their dependence on Middle Eastern crudes after OPEC+ decided this month to increase production cuts thru April, sources stated.
The first shipment from new oil producer Guyana to the world’s third-largest crude importer, India, departed this month from a production facility of the South American nation’s coast in a vessel chartered with the aid of using trading corporation Trafigura, records from Refinitiv Eikon confirmed on Tuesday.
As OPEC’s share in India’s oil imports fell to historic lows between April 2020 and January 2021, the refining powerhouse started making arrangements to import Guyanese crude while renewing a key delivery agreement among top refiner Indian Oil Corp Ltd and Russia.
The one million-barrel shipment of Guyana’s Liza mild sweet crude set sail on March 2 on Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Sea Garnet certain for India’s Mundra port, wherein it is set to reach around April 8. The shipment’s charterer is Trafigura , consistent with the Eikon data.
Guyana’s natural resources minister, Vickram Bharrat, instructed Reuters this month that the crude onboard the Sea Garnet were at the start allotted to New York-based Hess Corp, one of the corporations producing crude in Guyana together with Exxon Mobil Corp, and introduced to Trafigura. Bharrat stated he did now no longer realize the identification of the shipment’s last buyer.
Trafigura and Hess declined to comment on commercial matters.
Since Guyana started exporting crude in early 2020, its oil has flowed mainly to the United States, China, Panama, and the Caribbean, consistent with tanker-tracking records.
India turned into an outstanding importer of Venezuelan oil; however, tight U.S. sanctions at the South American we have since 2019 restricted the quantity India can buy if it is even allowed.
Since October, India did no longer get hold of any Venezuelan crude imports in February for a 3rd consecutive month because Washington suspended oil-for-fuel swaps among state-run PDVSA and Reliance Industries Ltd. That compares with 371,300 barrels according to day (BPD) of Venezuelan oil that arrived in Indian ports in February 2020.
Besides Russia, North American producers Canada, the United States, and Mexico have received market share to use selling heavy crude grades to India.
