Indian Refiners Consider Raising US Crude Purchases Further

Oil

India’s HPCL is considering purchasing around 2M bbls of low sulphur US crude, Reuters reports, citing a company executive. The crude may be used to replace Nigerian grades. If HPCL does begin to import US crude it would further bolster trade on a route that has also seen rising purchases from BPCL and IOC.  For comparison, India was only reported to have made its first ever purchase of US crude in July with a 1.6M bbls Mars crude cargo set for October delivery. Should some Indian import demand for West African crudes be replaced by US grades, this could provide a boost to tonne-mile demand given signifcantly longer voyage distances.