India's state-run refiners are continuing an aggressive buying campaign for crude from West Africa and other regions as the Middle East crisis has curtailed supply and introduced uncertainty into deliveries through key shipping chokepoints. India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, relies on foreign sources for more than 80% of its crude needs, making supply diversification a strategic priority when traditional routes face disruption.

In one of the most recent tender-based purchases, India's state-owned refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) acquired 2 million barrels of Nigerian crude from Shell, trade sources told Reuters. The purchase includes 1 million barrels each of the Nigerian grades Forcados and Bonga, destined for HPCL's Visakh refinery in Andhra Pradesh on India's east coast. That facility has a processing capacity of 300,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Earlier in the week, separate reports indicated that HPCL had also secured 2 million barrels of Nigerian Okwuibome and Utapate crudes from commodity trader Glencore through a tender. Those cargoes are slated for HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited (HRRL), located in Rajasthan state. HRRL has a capacity of 180,000 bpd and is 74% owned by Hindustan Petroleum, with the remaining stake held by the state government of Rajasthan.

Multiple Indian refiners have recently turned to Oman and West Africa via tenders, as term supply contracts from the Middle East remain constrained by shipping bottlenecks at both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The Middle East has historically been India's largest crude supplier, and prolonged disruption to those flows forces refiners to compete for Atlantic Basin barrels that travel longer distances, typically at higher freight costs.

State-controlled Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) purchased approximately 1 million barrels of Omani crude through a tender from Mitsui & Co Energy Trading Singapore, at a premium of roughly $3 per barrel over Dated Brent, trade sources told Reuters.

Additionally, Indian Oil Corporation — India's largest refiner by capacity — bought a total of 4 million barrels of West African crude from Chevron. The purchase includes Nemba, Saxi Batuque, and Clov grades from Angola, along with Congo's Djeno crude.

Indian refiners have been casting a wide net for supply, sourcing crude from as far afield as Angola in Africa and Venezuela in South America. Their term supplies from the Middle East were again disrupted in July, with cargoes unable to reach India as scheduled.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for OilPrice.com