Le raffinerie indiane si rivolgono al greggio dell’Africa occidentale mentre i colli di bottiglia di Hormuz interrompono l’offerta mediorientale
Punti chiave
- •MRPL ha acquistato circa 1 milione di barili di greggio dall’Oman tramite gara, con un premio di circa $3 al barile rispetto al Dated Brent.
- •Indian Oil Corporation ha acquistato 4 milioni di barili di greggio dell’Africa occidentale da Chevron, inclusi gradi provenienti da Angola e Congo.
- •HPCL avrebbe acquistato 2 milioni di barili di greggio nigeriano tramite Glencore all’inizio di questa settimana.
- •Le raffinerie indiane stanno cercando forniture alternative perché i flussi di greggio mediorientale sono stati limitati dai colli di bottiglia nei principali punti critici di transito.
- •L’India ha aumentato in modo significativo le importazioni di greggio russo, ma tali volumi non hanno compensato interamente la perturbazione delle forniture dal Medio Oriente.
Several Indian refiners have recently purchased crude from Oman and West Africa through tenders as term supplies from the Middle East remain constrained by shipping bottlenecks at the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, trade sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
State-controlled Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) has bought about 1 million barrels of crude oil from Oman through a tender at a premium of around $3 per barrel to Dated Brent, according to Reuters' sources. The cargo was sold by Mitsui \u0026 Co Energy Trading Singapore.
State-run Indian Oil Corporation, the country's largest refiner by capacity, has also purchased 4 million barrels of West African crude from Chevron. The grades included Nemba, Saxi Batuque and Clov from Angola, as well as Djeno crude from Congo.
Earlier this week, reports said state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) had bought 2 million barrels of crude from Nigeria as India seeks to offset lost Middle Eastern supply with cargoes from more distant producers. HPCL acquired Okwuibome and Utapate grades from Nigeria through commodity trader Glencore, trading sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
Since the start of the Iran war, Indian refiners have scrambled to replace crude supplies from the Middle East with alternatives from other producers. India has sharply increased imports of Russian crude in recent months, and July imports reached a record high while accounting for more than half of India’s total crude imports.
Even so, those volumes have not been enough to fully cover the disruption, underscoring how exposed a major importer like India remains when key shipping lanes are constrained. Indian refiners are now seeking supply routes that do not have to pass through chokepoints in the Middle East. They have looked to crude from Angola in Africa and Venezuela in South America after term supplies from the Middle East were trapped again in July and failed to reach India as planned. For refiners, these purchases also show how procurement is being pushed toward more distant suppliers as they work to keep feedstock flowing to domestic plants.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com