Latest news with #ASSahney
The Print
4 days ago
- Business
- The Print
No pause on Russian oil imports, India continues imports based on economic rationale
Purchase volumes may fluctuate monthly based on the discounts offered on Russian crude grades like Urals. While discounts had previously reached as high as USD 40 per barrel, they have narrowed to just USD 1.5 late last month, resulting in reduced offtake. Discounts have since widened to about USD 2.70. New Delhi, Aug 14 (PTI) India has not halted oil purchases from Russia in response to the US President's tariff threat and continues to buy based solely on economic considerations, said AS Sahney, Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country's largest oil firm. India became the largest customer of Russian oil from 2022, after western countries shunned Russian oil and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Sahney said refiners like IOC buy crude oil from Russia purely on economic consideration and have not been asked to cut or boost purchase in response to US tariffs, he said. 'There is no pause,' he said. Russian oil has continued to flow to Indian refiners in July as well as this month. 'We continue to buy, purely based on economic considerations, that is to say if the pricing and characteristics of the crude make sense in our scheme of processing, we buy,' he told reporters here. 'No special effort is being made to either increase or decrease (the import volumes). We are buying crude as per economic considerations,' he said. Imports from Russia made up for 22-23 per cent of all the crude oil that IOC refineries processed in the April-June period. US President Donald Trump last week announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on US imports from India — raising the overall duty to 50 per cent — as a penalty for the country's continued imports of Russian oil. Since the steep tariffs are likely to hit the USD 40 billion of non-exempt exports that India does to the US, there has been chatter around stopping or curtailing oil imports from Russia. 'There are no sanctions on Russian crude,' he said. 'India has not done anything that violates any sanctions'. Separately, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) Director (Finance) Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta on an investor call said the discounts have narrowed to USD 1.5 per barrel, and led to lower imports last month. In the first quarter, Russian oil made up 34 per cent of BPCL's crude intake and the company hopes to return to a 30-35 per cent ratio as long as there are no sanctions, he said. Before February 2022, Russian crude oil accounted for less than 1 per cent of India's total oil imports. However, after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, western nations shunned Russian energy, leading to Russian crude being available at discounted rates compared to global benchmarks. Seizing the economic opportunity, India ramped up its purchases, significantly increasing its reliance on Russian oil to meet domestic energy needs. Russian crude oil now meets 30 per cent of the requirement. Sahney said at no time was import of crude oil from Russia sanctioned and so India continued to purchase keeping in mind economic considerations. 'Such purchases will continue unless sanctions are imposed,' he said. 'We have not got any instruction (from the government) to either increase or decrease purchase. We are doing business as usual.' About talk of refiners being asked to increase purchases from the US in a bid to placate Trump, IOC Chairman said, 'Neither are we being told to buy more nor are we told to buy less from US or any other destination. Economic considerations dictate our actions.' PTI ANZ TRB This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
No pause on Russian oil imports, India continues imports based on economic rationale
India has not halted oil purchases from Russia in response to the US President's tariff threat and continues to buy based solely on economic considerations, said AS Sahney, Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country's largest oil firm. Purchase volumes may fluctuate monthly based on the discounts offered on Russian crude grades like Urals. While discounts had previously reached as high as $ 40 per barrel, they have narrowed to just $ 1.5 late last month, resulting in reduced offtake. Discounts have since widened to about $ 2.70. However, India's intent to continue buying Russian oil remains unchanged. India became the largest customer of Russian oil from 2022, after western countries shunned Russian oil and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Sahney said refiners like IOC buy crude oil from Russia purely on economic consideration and have not been asked to cut or boost purchase in response to US tariffs, he said. "There is no pause," he said. Russian oil has continued to flow to Indian refiners in July as well as this month. "We continue to buy, purely based on economic considerations, that is to say if the pricing and characteristics of the crude make sense in our scheme of processing, we buy," he told reporters here. "No special effort is being made to either increase or decrease (the import volumes). We are buying crude as per economic considerations," he said. Imports from Russia made up for 22-23 per cent of all the crude oil that IOC refineries processed in the April-June period. US President Donald Trump last week announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on US imports from India -- raising the overall duty to 50 per cent -- as a penalty for the country's continued imports of Russian oil. Since the steep tariffs are likely to hit the $ 40 billion of non-exempt exports that India does to the US, there has been chatter around stopping or curtailing oil imports from Russia. "There are no sanctions on Russian crude," he said. "India has not done anything that violates any sanctions". Separately, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) Director (Finance) Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta on an investor call said the discounts have narrowed to $ 1.5 per barrel, and led to lower imports last month. In the first quarter, Russian oil made up 34 per cent of BPCL's crude intake and the company hopes to return to a 30-35 per cent ratio as long as there are no sanctions, he said. Before February 2022, Russian crude oil accounted for less than 1 per cent of India's total oil imports. However, after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, western nations shunned Russian energy, leading to Russian crude being available at discounted rates compared to global benchmarks. Seizing the economic opportunity, India ramped up its purchases, significantly increasing its reliance on Russian oil to meet domestic energy needs. Russian crude oil now meets 30 per cent of the requirement. Sahney said at no time was import of crude oil from Russia sanctioned and so India continued to purchase keeping in mind economic considerations. "Such purchases will continue unless sanctions are imposed," he said. "We have not got any instruction (from the government) to either increase or decrease purchase. We are doing business as usual." About talk of refiners being asked to increase purchases from the US in a bid to placate Trump, IOC Chairman said, "Neither are we being told to buy more nor are we told to buy less from US or any other destination. Economic considerations dictate our actions."
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
No pause on Russian oil imports, India continues imports based on economic rationale
India has not halted oil purchases from Russia in response to the US President's tariff threat and continues to buy based solely on economic considerations, said AS Sahney, Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country's largest oil firm. Purchase volumes may fluctuate monthly based on the discounts offered on Russian crude grades like Urals. While discounts had previously reached as high as $ 40 per barrel, they have narrowed to just $ 1.5 late last month, resulting in reduced offtake. Discounts have since widened to about $ 2.70. However, India's intent to continue buying Russian oil remains unchanged. India became the largest customer of Russian oil from 2022, after western countries shunned Russian oil and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Sahney said refiners like IOC buy crude oil from Russia purely on economic consideration and have not been asked to cut or boost purchase in response to US tariffs, he said. "There is no pause," he said. Russian oil has continued to flow to Indian refiners in July as well as this month. "We continue to buy, purely based on economic considerations, that is to say if the pricing and characteristics of the crude make sense in our scheme of processing, we buy," he told reporters here. "No special effort is being made to either increase or decrease (the import volumes). We are buying crude as per economic considerations," he said. Imports from Russia made up for 22-23 per cent of all the crude oil that IOC refineries processed in the April-June period. US President Donald Trump last week announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on US imports from India -- raising the overall duty to 50 per cent -- as a penalty for the country's continued imports of Russian oil. Since the steep tariffs are likely to hit the $ 40 billion of non-exempt exports that India does to the US, there has been chatter around stopping or curtailing oil imports from Russia. "There are no sanctions on Russian crude," he said. "India has not done anything that violates any sanctions". Separately, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) Director (Finance) Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta on an investor call said the discounts have narrowed to $ 1.5 per barrel, and led to lower imports last month. In the first quarter, Russian oil made up 34 per cent of BPCL's crude intake and the company hopes to return to a 30-35 per cent ratio as long as there are no sanctions, he said. Before February 2022, Russian crude oil accounted for less than 1 per cent of India's total oil imports. However, after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, western nations shunned Russian energy, leading to Russian crude being available at discounted rates compared to global benchmarks. Seizing the economic opportunity, India ramped up its purchases, significantly increasing its reliance on Russian oil to meet domestic energy needs. Russian crude oil now meets 30 per cent of the requirement. Sahney said at no time was import of crude oil from Russia sanctioned and so India continued to purchase keeping in mind economic considerations. "Such purchases will continue unless sanctions are imposed," he said. "We have not got any instruction (from the government) to either increase or decrease purchase. We are doing business as usual." About talk of refiners being asked to increase purchases from the US in a bid to placate Trump, IOC Chairman said, "Neither are we being told to buy more nor are we told to buy less from US or any other destination. Economic considerations dictate our actions."
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
'No pause' on Russian oil purchase amid Trump tariffs, says Indian Oil Corporation chairman
AS Sahney, chairman of Indian Oil Corporation, said that India has not paused its oil purchases from Russia following US President Donald Trump's move to double the country's tariff, noting that New Delhi's buying decisions are solely based on economic considerations. Before February 2022, Russian crude oil accounted for less than 1 per cent of India's oil imports.(File Image) Refiners like IOC, which is India's largest oil firm, buy crude oil from Russia purely on economic consideration and have not been asked to cut or boost purchase in response to US tariffs, Sahney was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. The country's purchase volumes may reportedly fluctuate monthly on the basis of discounts offered on Russian crude grades like Urals. Previously, the discounts were as high as US$40 per barrel. However, last month, they narrowed down to just US$1.5, leading to reduced withdrawal. The dip then led the discounts to be widened to about US$2.70. India became the largest purchaser of Russian oil from 2022, after Western countries avoided Russian oil and imposed sanctions on Moscow for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The US President has given heat to India over its trade with Russia, saying that New Delhi is "fueling the war machine". Last week, he imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods in addition to the previously imposed 25 per cent, taking the total levies to 50 per cent. The US has repeatedly threatened to impose more tariffs if the purchases continue. However, the IOC chairman said, "There is no pause," in India's purchase of oil from Russia. It has continued to flow to Indian refiners in July and August. "We continue to buy, purely based on economic considerations, that is to say, if the pricing and characteristics of the crude make sense in our scheme of processing, we buy," Sahney told reporters. "No special effort is being made to either increase or decrease (the import volumes). We are buying crude as per economic considerations," he added. Before February 2022, Russian crude oil accounted for less than 1 per cent of India's oil imports. However, after Russia invaded Ukraine and the West shunned Russian energy, Moscow's crude became available at discounted rates in comparison to global benchmarks. India seized the opportunity and boosted its purchases, significantly increasing its Russian oil imports for domestic energy needs. Sahney further noted that at no time was there any sanction on Russian crude oil, saying that India, thus, continued to purchase based on its economic considerations. "There are no sanctions on Russian crude. India has not done anything that violates any sanctions," he added. "Such purchases will continue unless sanctions are imposed," Sahney said. He also mentioned that oil companies have not received any instructions from the government to either increase or decrease purchases. "We are doing business as usual," he added. The IOC Chairman also commented on whether refiners have been asked to increase purchases from US as an attempt to pacify Trump. "Neither are we being told to buy more nor are we told to buy less from US or any other destination. Economic considerations dictate our actions," Sahney said. Additionally, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) director (finance) Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta said that imports took a hit last month after discounts on Russian oil dipped to US$1.5 per barrel. He said Russian oil made up 34 per cent of BPCL's crude intake in the first quarter, and added that the company hopes to return to 30 to 35 per cent ratio as long as there are no sanctions. (with PTI inputs)
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Indian Oil's Q1 profit more than doubles to Rs 5,689 crore
Indian Oil reported doubling of net profit to Rs 5,689 crore in the June quarter from Rs 2,643 crore a year earlier buoyed by robust marketing margins. Revenue from operations grew 1% to Rs 218,608 crore in the three months ended June. 'Improvement in net profit is mainly on account of higher refining and marketing margins being set off to some extent by inventory losses,' the state-run refiner and retailer said. Indian Oil incurred an inventory loss of Rs 6,465 crore during the quarter compared to an inventory gain of Rs 3,345 crore a year earlier, said AS Sahney, chairman, referring to the strong impact of inventory in the quarterly earnings. The company's gross refining margin (GRM) for the quarter stood at $2.15 per barrel compared to $6.39 per barrel in the year-earlier period. (Recheck this) After removing the effect of inventory loss and gain, margin would be $6.91 compared to $2.84 a year earlier. Indian Oil and other domestic fuel retailers like BPCL and HPCL have been enjoying strong marketing margins on retail sales of petrol and diesel since they have continued to keep pump prices frozen despite a decline in international fuel rates. Indian Oil had an under-recovery of Rs 3,858 crore on the sale of cooking gas during the quarter compared to Rs 4,294 crore a year earlier. The government has decided to compensate oil marketing companies to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore for LPG under-recoveries, but the modalities are yet to be worked out. Indian Oil reported the highest-ever quarterly sales volume of 26.32 million metric tonnes (MMT) in April-June compared to 25.25 MMT in the year-ago period. The company's domestic petroleum sales volume rose 4.2% against the industry's 3.9%. Institutional diesel sales volume increased 40.3% compared to industry's 14.8%. Average capacity utilisation at its refineries was 107% during the quarter. Shares in Indian Oil, valued at about Rs 198,000 crore, ended 1.58% lower at Rs 140.15 apiece on Thursday when the benchmark BSE Sensex closed nearly unchanged.
