The proposed European price cap on Russian crude may not disrupt India’s energy imports from Russia as Indian refiners are free to lift any quantity of Russian oil provided they don’t use shipping, insurance and other services of European firms, according to two senior officials who said that the purchase could even be settled through the Rupee-Rouble mechanism.
Unlike crude imports from Iran and Venezuela, there is no sanction on Indian refiners from purchasing Russian crude, the first official, a senior bureaucrat in an economic ministry said. The other official, also a senior bureaucrat from another economic department said the European price cap on Russian crude may not harm Indian interests as “rupee-rouble trade settlement mechanism is ready” and that Indian refiners may likely getting Russian crude “well below” the price cap. Both officials asked not to be named.
