Indian Refiner Snaps Up US Oil After Trump’s Russia Threats

By Serene Cheong and Yongchang Chin

Aug 1, 2025 (Bloomberg) –India’s largest oil refiner has snapped up millions of barrels of crude from the US and UAE, with the South Asian nation facing mounting pressure from US and Europe over its purchases from Russia.

State-owned Indian Oil Corp, bought at least 5 million barrels US crude, on top of two million barrels of supplies from Abu Dhabi, according to traders who asked not to be identified as they aren’t authorized to speak publicly. The purchases were both large and for relatively immediate delivery by the company’s usual standards. State-owned processors were told to come up with plans for buying non-Russian crude earlier this week. 

An Indian Oil spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

India’s refiners have been in the spotlight over the past two weeks after being singled out by the EU and the US for support of Russia during its war in Ukraine. President Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose secondary tariffs on buyers of Moscow’s oil, and in a post earlier this week he singled out India for criticism, saying that it would pay an additional economic penalty for its ongoing purchases. 

This week, IOC sought crude supplies in multiple back-to-back purchase tenders, which traders said were unusual for IOC and pointed to relatively urgent demand for crude. Earlier in the week, it also purchased 4 million barrels of West African barrels, as well as the UAE’s Murban crude for delivery during the same period.

India has become the world’s biggest buyer of Russian seaborne exports of crude, soaking up discounted barrels and ramping up its purchases from almost zero to about one-third of its imports. This has come from streams such as Urals crude, and at the expense of more traditional supplies from the Middle East and Africa.

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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