Indian authorities delayed payment for seven shipments of Russian oil in yuan – Kommersant

India has delayed payment for at least seven shipments of Russian oil supplied to local oil refineries. The agency reported this Reuters with reference to sources. According to sources, Indian authorities are unhappy with payment in yuan instead of rupees.

According to the agency, we are talking about oil supplied to Indian refineries at the end of September this year. These deliveries have not yet been paid for. Refining industry officials say yuan settlements increase costs because rupees must be converted into Hong Kong dollars and then into yuan. This is 2-3% more expensive than payments in dirhams.

According to the agency’s sources, rupees, yuan and the Arab dirham were considered to pay for Russian oil. According to sources, Russian raw material suppliers refuse to conduct transactions in UAE currency, preferring to pay in yuan.

A representative of the Indian Ministry of Finance, in a conversation with Reuters, said that they cannot prohibit private companies from purchasing oil from Russian suppliers for yuan, but they can complicate such transactions. “The government will not stop this, but it will neither encourage nor facilitate such trade,” said an Indian Finance Ministry official.

As The Times of India reported, citing sources, Indian refineries, by reducing imports of raw materials, managed to achieve discounts on Russian oil in the amount of $8–10 per barrel. As a result, the share of Russian oil in India’s imports increased from 33% in August to 38% at the end of September.

Anastasia Larina