India suspends Russian oil imports after Trump's threat

India's state-owned oil refineries have suspended crude oil imports from Russia following a warning from former US President Donald Trump. The decision was taken after some obstacles to Russian oil imports in July and Trump's threat were considered a "warning signal", Indian industry sources said. Reuters reported.

India, the world's third-largest oil importer, is currently one of the main buyers of Russian crude. However, India's four major state-owned oil refiners—Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL)—have not placed any new orders for Russian oil in the past week.

However, there has been no official statement from IOC, HPCL, BPCL, MRPL or the Indian Ministry of Energy on this issue.

With the temporary suspension of Russian oil imports, Indian state-owned oil companies are looking for alternative sources. They are now leaning towards buying oil from the spot market and are particularly interested in Abu Dhabi's 'Murban Crude' in the Middle East and West African crude.

Currently, India's total daily oil refining capacity is about 5.2 million barrels, of which state-owned companies account for about 60 percent. Although Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy are still active as major buyers of Russian oil in the private sector.

Notably, on July 14, Donald Trump said in a speech that 100 percent tariffs will be imposed on countries importing oil from Russia if there is no peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. Then, in a post on the ‘Truth Social’ platform on Wednesday night, he announced a 25 percent tariff on India and additional fines on purchases of Russian oil.

According to analysts, this position could bring about a major change in India’s oil import policy. At the same time, it is believed to create new uncertainty in the global oil market.