NEW DELHI, July 27 (Reuters) – Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL.NS) continues to be in talks with Russian oil main Rosneft (ROSN.MM) to purchase oil below a time period deal, its head of finance stated, including that reductions on Russian oil are narrowing.

“Yes, there were discussions happening with Rosneft but not yet concluded,” Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta informed an analysts’ convention after the corporate’s June quarter earnings report.

Reuters final month reported that BPCL is in talks to purchase as much as 6 million metric tons of Russian oil below a term deal with Rosneft.

Indian refiners have been snapping up discounted Russian oil

since many different nations imposed sanctions on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. The reductions make Russian oil cheaper than related grades from the Middle East.

But Gupta stated reductions on Russian oil are shrinking in comparison with earlier quarters.

Narrowing reductions amid tightening provide made Russian Urals oil costs for August loading leap above the $60 per barrel value cap, sources informed Reuters final month.

He stated, “If the crude discount comes down (further) then there is no good advantage or commercial advantage of taking Russian crude”.

An Indian authorities official final month stated narrowing reductions and fee issues might hit India’s Russian oil imports.

Discounts have been narrowing resulting from Opec+’s decision to chop output.

Indian refiners largely purchase Russian oil at or beneath the $60 per barrel value cap fastened by the European Union and the G7 nations to limit Russia’s oil income.

Gupta stated to date his firm has managed to settle funds for Russian oil, though it did face issues earlier when the associated fee crossed the worth cap stage.

“At least for the time being we are not foreseeing any problems because more banks are ready for settlement … we have to wait and see in case of any purchases beyond the price cap if there are any issues or not,” he stated.

BPCL, the nation’s second greatest state-refiner, can use about 30%-40% of Russian oil for its three refineries with mixed capability of 726,000 barrels per day.

Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Kim Coghill

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