NEW DELHI: Indian refiners can leverage their combined consumption to seek better terms for next year’s annual contracts with suppliers, especially Russia, as a gloomy demand outlook subdues oil prices, a senior petroleum ministry official said on Thursday.
“We have seen IEA (International Energy Agency) and all such agencies lowering demand outlook in recent times.But India has emerged as a major (demand) growth centre,” he said, alluding to the growing size of India’s consumption — pegged at about 5 million barrels/day — offers a substantial market for suppliers in a tepid market.
On joint negotiations by the refiners with Russia, the official said “talks” among them “are ongoing”. Indian refiners sign annual contracts with major suppliers for part of their requirement and meet the rest through spot purchase.
The focus on Russia stems from the fact that it has become India’s top oil supplier because of discounts offered in the wake of Western sanctions and a $60 per barrel price cap, imposed after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, curbed markets for the Russian barrels. State-run refiners mostly buy Russian oil through spot tenders.
A similar attempt by state-run refiners to secure better terms from the Middle-East suppliers about 15 years back had come a cropper.
But the official said a contract is more than the price, which follows benchmarks. “For example, one can seek discounts, longer payment credit period, destination flexibility (allowing diversion cargo to another port in India) and other terms,” he said.
Both OPEC, accounting for 40% of globally traded oil, and the IEA have in recent times pruned their 2024 demand growth forecast. In contrast, IEA’s oil market report on India has said the country will contribute a third of the global oil consumption growth through 2030 to overtake China.
For the first time in two years, benchmark Brent crude dropped below $70 per barrel last week as fear of oversupply grew amid poor show by the major economies, especially China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer. On Thursday, however, Brent rebounded to hover just below $75, buoyed by the US interest cut.
“We have seen IEA (International Energy Agency) and all such agencies lowering demand outlook in recent times.But India has emerged as a major (demand) growth centre,” he said, alluding to the growing size of India’s consumption — pegged at about 5 million barrels/day — offers a substantial market for suppliers in a tepid market.
On joint negotiations by the refiners with Russia, the official said “talks” among them “are ongoing”. Indian refiners sign annual contracts with major suppliers for part of their requirement and meet the rest through spot purchase.
The focus on Russia stems from the fact that it has become India’s top oil supplier because of discounts offered in the wake of Western sanctions and a $60 per barrel price cap, imposed after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, curbed markets for the Russian barrels. State-run refiners mostly buy Russian oil through spot tenders.
A similar attempt by state-run refiners to secure better terms from the Middle-East suppliers about 15 years back had come a cropper.
But the official said a contract is more than the price, which follows benchmarks. “For example, one can seek discounts, longer payment credit period, destination flexibility (allowing diversion cargo to another port in India) and other terms,” he said.
Both OPEC, accounting for 40% of globally traded oil, and the IEA have in recent times pruned their 2024 demand growth forecast. In contrast, IEA’s oil market report on India has said the country will contribute a third of the global oil consumption growth through 2030 to overtake China.
For the first time in two years, benchmark Brent crude dropped below $70 per barrel last week as fear of oversupply grew amid poor show by the major economies, especially China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer. On Thursday, however, Brent rebounded to hover just below $75, buoyed by the US interest cut.