IOC buys seven million barrels of U.S., West Asia crude after Russian oil pause

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the nation’s prime refiner, has purchased seven million barrels of September-arrival crude from the United States, Canada and West Asia through a young, a number of commerce sources stated on Monday (August 4, 2025).

IOC’s massive spot crude buy comes after the arbitrage window for U.S. crude to Asia opened and as Indian state refiners paused shopping for of Russian crude oil on narrowing reductions. U.S. President Donald Trump has warned international locations to not buy oil from Moscow, which is below sanctions over its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

IOC purchased 4.5 million barrels of U.S. crude, 5,00,000 barrels of Canada’s Western Canadian Select (WCS) and two million barrels of Das oil produced in Abu Dhabi, the sources stated. They declined to be named as a result of they weren’t authorised to talk to the media.

The higher-than-normal purchases are partly to switch Russian barrels, two of the sources stated.

India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, is the largest purchaser of seaborne Russian crude.

Indian state refiners — IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd — had not sought Russian crude up to now week or so, Reuters reported final week.

In IOC’s tender that closed on Friday (August 1, 2025), P66 and Equinor will every ship a million barrels of U.S. West Texas Intermediate Midland crude whereas Mercuria will ship 2 million barrels of the identical grade, the sources stated. Vitol will ship a million barrels of WTI Midland and WCS, they added.

Trafigura will ship two million barrels of Das.

Prices for the offers weren’t instantly obtainable.

The purchases additionally got here amid further sanctions by the European Union on the Russian power commerce.