Washington. US President Donald Trump has given a statement regarding India reducing oil imports from Russia. Trump has said that India took this decision to please him. Trump said he wanted to make me happy. Prime Minister Modi is a very good person. He knew that I was not happy, so it was important to make me happy. We trade and can raise tariffs on them. After the Ukraine war, India became Russia’s largest oil buyer. American officials had alleged that India was funding the attacks on Ukraine by buying oil from Russia. Regarding this, the Trump administration had also imposed 25 percent tariff on India.
US Senator Lindsey Graham has said that he visited the Indian Ambassador’s house about a month ago. The biggest discussion in that meeting was about reducing the purchase of Russian oil by India. He told that the Indian Ambassador had asked him to convey this message to President Trump that the extra 25 percent tariff imposed on India should be removed. According to Lindsey Graham, India is now buying much less oil from Russia than before. This issue was raised prominently in the talks.
India reduces oil imports from Russia after 4 years
India has reduced crude oil imports from Russia for the first time since 2021. According to Reuters report, India’s Russian oil imports were about 17.7 lakh barrels per day in November, which has come down to about 12 lakh barrels per day in December. In the coming time it may go below 10 lakh barrels per day. The data coming in January may show a big decline in India’s Russian oil imports. US sanctions have come into effect on Russia’s two big oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil from November 21. After this, India’s oil import from Russia has started decreasing.
Russia reduced discount
After the Ukraine war, Russia started selling cheap crude oil at $20-25 per barrel. At that time, the price of crude oil in the international market was $130 per barrel, hence this discount was economical for India. However, now the price of crude oil in the international market has reached $63 per barrel. Russia has also reduced its discount to 1.5 to 2 dollars per barrel. With such a low concession, India is not getting the same benefits as before, and on top of that, the shipping and insurance costs involved in bringing oil from Russia are also high. For this reason, India is now again buying oil from stable and reliable suppliers like Saudi, UAE and America, because now there is no longer a big difference in the price as before.
