Why did Russia divert to Dubai benchmark in Indian oil deal
Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft and India’s top refiner Indian Oil Corp agreed to use the Asia-focused Dubai oil price benchmark in their latest deal to deliver Russian oil to India, three sources familiar with the deal said.
The decision by the two state-controlled companies to abandon the Europe-dominated Brent benchmark is part of a shift of Russia’s oil sales towards Asia after Europe shunned Russian oil following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than a year ago.
Both benchmarks are denominated in dollars and set by S&P Platts, a unit of U.S.-based S&P Global Inc, but Brent is mostly used by European oil majors and traders, whereas Dubai is heavily influenced by Asian and Middle Eastern oil trading.
