Two Indian state refiners are seeking to boost imports of Saudi crude oil after the kingdom cut the official selling price of its key export grade for February to the lowest in 27 months, company sources said.
Indian Oil Corp, the country’s top refiner, and Bharat Petroleum Corp, are looking at lifting an additional 1 million barrels of oil each from Saudi Aramco in February, the sources said.
Saudi Aramco typically notifies Asian buyers of their monthly crude allocations by the 10th of every month.
Indian oil companies and Saudi Aramco did not immediately respond to Reuters emails seeking comments.
IOC is seeking more oil from Saudi Arabia and West Africa partly as it is facing problems in buying Russian light sweet crude Sokol because of challenges in payments, one of the sources said.
India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, has been gorging on Russian crude, sold at a discount after western nations shunned purchases from Moscow.