OREANDA-NEWS   India is indeed reducing oil purchases from Russia, but this is not due to US pressure, but to market circumstances. Thus, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri commented on the information, Reuters reports.

According to him, the growth in the supply of raw materials from the Middle East allows India to look for more profitable options, and besides, China is imposing competition in the purchase of Russian oil.

Puri explained that purchases from Russian suppliers depend on the scale of discounts. Before the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022, the share of oil from Russia in Indian imports was a symbolic 0.2 percent, but then it increased sharply.

The additional increase in supplies was due to the operation of Israel and the United States against Iran, when major producers cut supplies in the spring due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Now, oil purchases in Russia have returned to the level of the winter of this year, that is, before the outbreak of the conflict.

As for the US position, India currently does not feel pressure from Washington, Puri stressed.

Earlier, the media found out that in September, Russia's share in the structure of India's oil imports fell from 46.6 to 33.5 percent, while the share of Middle Eastern states rose to 54 percent.

Against this background, the cost of Russian oil in China has also decreased. According to S&P Global, for the ESPO variety shipped to the Chinese province of Shandong, the premium to Brent as of October 23 was $ 10 per barrel, which is two times less than a month earlier.