NEW DELHI: Union Minister for of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Puri said that India will buy Venezuelan oil as some refiners in the country have the capability to process heavy crude oil. The last time India imported Venezuelan crude was in 2020.
Following the US lifting of sanctions in October, Indian refiners have already started buying Venezuelan oil again. Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corp and HPCL-Mittal Energy have all secured cargoes of Venezuelan oil.
“Many of our refineries, including Paradip, (are) capable of using that heavy Venezuelan oil. And we will buy (Venezuelan oil),” Puri told at a press conference.
India, world’s third-largest oil buyer, used to buy a lot of oil from Venezuela before the US imposed sanctions. These sanctions made Indian oil companies lose business to Chinese competitors in 2021.
