India Looking for New Sellers for Crude Oil

The US has postponed the 100% additional tariff on Russian oil purchases for China until January, but no such friendly dialogue has been seen for India yet. Currently, India is the country with the world’s largest population, and our demand market is supposedly larger than China’s. But don’t forget that China has the minerals that America needs. China has the raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry, which America needs. We have no other major attraction except a large market. Therefore, despite vociferous opposition to the US ban in the past, India has reduced its oil purchases from Russia. When the US-Iran war broke out and the US relaxed its oil purchases from Russia, we were buying 52% of our oil from Russia at a discounted rate. Now, with the threat of a 100% tariff, India’s oil purchases from Russia will inevitably decline, no matter how much we claim to be a sovereign nation. Now, India must import oil for energy, so it will have to seek other vendors. The US has threatened to impose tariffs, increasing the risk to supply routes in West Asia. Inside news suggests that India is fully prepared to increase its crude oil purchases from new sources. In this regard, Venezuela has emerged on India’s purchasing list. The same Venezuela whose oil reserves prompted Trump to assert his dominance. India’s Foreign Minister, S. Jaishankar, met with Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Felix Plascencia, in New York and discussed open trade. While no new announcements were made, data shows that Venezuela’s crude oil supply to India has increased from 280,000 barrels per day to 400,000 barrels per day in the past few months. Clearly, India’s oil needs are also large due to its largest population. In this context, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar attempted to strengthen the partnership with Canada at the United Nations General Assembly. His conversation with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand should also be seen in this context.