Even as the price cap on Russian oil is set to come into effect next week, India will continue to import crude oil from all sources, including Russia, a senior government official said.
Noting that the oil trade has all options available for moving crude from one country to another, the official also said that global suppliers have assured India of uninterrupted oil supplies. “We will continue to buy from wherever we need to buy, including Russia. India has been assured by global oil suppliers that there will be no disruption in supplies,” the official said.
Importers will also be looking at availing services of non-European shipping liners, insurance and finance providers to import Russian oil by circumventing the price cap. The official said that India will continue to receive cargoes from Russia booked so far beyond 5 December.
Queries sent to the ministry of petroleum and natural gas remained unanswered till press time.
European Union countries are scheduled to decide on the price cap proposal of G7 on Friday. The embargo o price cap ends on December 5.
Further, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US has also come up with its guidance for implementation of price cap policy. “The price cap for Russian oil will be set after a technical exercise conducted by the Price Cap Coalition. Shipping, freight, customs, and insurance costs are not included in the price cap and must be invoiced separately and at commercially reasonable rates,” it said.
The executive order from the Department of Treasury in the US said: “Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, hereby determines that the prohibitions in section l(a)(ii) shall apply to the following categories of services as they relate to the maritime transport of crude oil of Russian Federation origin: Trading/commodities brokering, financing, shipping, insurance, including reinsurance and protection and indemnity, flagging, and customs brokering.”
The price cap gains significance for India as Russia has emerged as one of the top source of crude oil this year, despite traditionally not supplying a significant quanity of oil.
Source: Livemint