Media: India denies cutting Russian oil imports amid US claims

The Trump administration claimed that India has halved its purchases of Russian oil. However, Indian refineries have not received any such directives from the government.

According to Reuters, earlier on October 16, a White House spokesperson said that talks with the Indian delegation in Washington this week were productive and that Indian refineries had already reduced imports of Russian oil by 50%.

Sources in the Indian oil sector, however, stated that New Delhi had not instructed refineries to cut Russian imports.

They noted that refineries have already placed orders for November shipments, including some deliveries scheduled for December. Any reductions would therefore likely affect figures for December or January.

According to analytics firm Kpler, Russian oil imports to India are expected to rise by about 20% this month, reaching approximately 1.9 million barrels per day.

By Vugar Khalilov