Experts Rubbish 'Nonsense' Reports Accusing India of 'Clandestine' Transfer of Russian Oil to West

Western media published a series of unconfirmed and unsubstantiated reports accusing India of diverting oil bought from Russia to Europe and the US. Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has torn into these reports, describing them as "nonsense".

Monthly trade data and strategic oil reserves have not supported reports suggesting that India's refiners are involved in the covert transfer of "discounted" Russian oil to Europe, Indian experts have said.

"It is a fact that India is importing oil at discounted prices from Russia. Still, it cannot be accepted that it is involved in its clandestine transfer to Europe," Yogendra Kapoor, a celebrated Delhi-based economist, told Sputnik.

India's Petroleum Ministry data suggests that refiners imported 19,566,000 MT of crude oil in May compared with 21,533,000 MT in April, despite a massive jump in imports from Russia.

"Monthly data doesn't suggest a jump in crude imports. Indian refiners purchase crude to produce fuel that can serve domestic needs for up to 30 days. No change in strategic oil reserve data also establishes that refiners have no additional oil that can be diverted to Europe or the West," Anuj Gupta, vice-president of IIFL Securities, told Sputnik.

Government data also showed a 24 percent rise in domestic demand, resulting in a fall in petroleum product exports by one percent in May. Refiners have worked 110 percent of the capacity to meet the rising demand in the domestic market.

Gupta stressed that India didn't allow gasoline and diesel exports as refiners did not have extra storage capacity, which stopped them from profiteering by producing more than is needed at home. Indian refiners export petroleum products such as Naphtha, motor spirit, bitumen, pet coke, etc.

Kapoor provides another reason for not "profiteering" while European countries have been reducing their imports from Russia in response to Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine.

"First, the percentage of oil imports from Russia by India is a minuscule proportion of its total imports. Suppose that India continues to enjoy oil imports at lower rates from Russia, in that case, it would first create its own reserves because of its huge oil import bill as it is rising because the Indian rupee is depreciating against the US dollar," Kapoor said.

The Press Trust of India has reported - citing an anonymous government official - that India's crude oil imports from Russia jumped more than 50 times since April, accounting for 10 percent of the country's total oil purchases.

On Saturday, US' National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said that President Joe Biden wanted all nations, including India, to participate in efforts to ensure "the costs keep rising for Putin, that it's harder for him to wage war".

Justifying India's oil purchases, an Indian energy expert accused the West of destabilizing global energy markets, leaving oil buyers in tatters.

"Sanctions on Russian energy exports are a serious market distortion, which are having a disproportionate impact on developing and lower-income countries. Attempts by European nations to diversify from Russian natural gas have pushed up prices of liquefied natural gas to record levels, making it unaffordable for other consumers," Amit Bhandari, an energy expert at Mumbai-based Gateway House, told Sputnik.

"Since the global oil supply is unchanged, the customers of these suppliers will have to make up for the shortfall elsewhere - meaning Russian oil. This will just be a case of juggling two sets of customers and suppliers. Thus, some countries will end up buying more oil from Russia - it is the natural outcome of European nations buying oil from elsewhere," Bhandari underlined.

India's Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said that India's oil purchases are "determined purely from the consideration of energy security".

The allegations of funding Russia's military operation were torn apart by Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar on several occasions, including during his last visit to Europe in June.

"Today, Europe is buying [Russian] oil, Europe is buying [Russian] gas… Is buying Russian gas not funding the war? Is it only Indian money that funds it, and not the money coming from Europe? Let's be a little even-handed," Jaishankar said at the GlobSec 2022 Bratislava Forum.

Western media have documented India's "discounted" oil purchases from Russia but never substantiated their claim of a "backdoor" supply to Europe.

Most of these reports were published days before any high-ranking Indian visited the West. The Wall Street Journal published reports calling India a "key hub of Russian oil flows", where processed oil products were allegedly finding their way to markets abroad, including the US, on the day Jaishankar was in Europe.

Similarly, The Guardian published an unsubstantiated report on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to attend the G7 summit in Bavaria.

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