State-run refiner Indian Oil has invited initial bids for 24 million barrels of oil from the Americas for the January-March quarter in 2026, according to a document seen by Reuters on Thursday.Many Indian refiners paused new orders for Russian oil after the US imposed sanctions last week on Moscow’s top two producers, with some turning to the spot market for alternatives, industry sources have said.Indian Oil, the country’s biggest refiner, is looking to gauge market interest in the event that it needs to buy oil from the Americas, a source aware of the tender told Reuters.
India became the biggest importer of seaborne Russian crude in the aftermath of Moscow’s 2022 Ukraine invasion.Earlier, on October 28, IOC and other Indian oil firms may not completely halt purchases of Russian crude, as recent sanctions target specific Russian suppliers, not the oil itself – a scenario that opens the possibility of flows to continue through non-sanctioned entities.Officials said four Russian oil companies have been sanctioned so far, but the largest supplier to India, Rosneft – which handles around 45 per cent of flows – is not an actual producer but an aggregator. Crude aggregation from fields in Russia can be carried out by other non-sanctioned entities, allowing supplies to continue.Read Also: Cipla Q2 Results: Results largely in-line with expectations; US sales, guidance awaitedFirst Published: Oct 30, 2025 1:06 PM IST
