India Ditches BRICS Again, Halts Russian Oil Tanker To Buy US Oil

BRICS members India and Russia are moving in the opposite direction for crude oil sales and procurement in 2024. Watcher Guru previously reported that India is buying more oil from the US this year and keeping Russia at bay. The fallout occurred after Russia demanded India settle crude oil payments in the Chinese Yuan and not the Indian Rupee. The development did not sit well with India, as the country believed such a move would only strengthen the Chinese Yuan’s prospects.

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Additionally, the demand comes at a time when India is headed for the Prime Ministerial elections in May. Settling payments in the Chinese Yuan will only show the government in a negative light in the world’s largest democracy. For the uninitiated, India and China have been at loggerheads for decades and the two countries are engulfed in border disputes. Therefore, India decided to stop buying Russian crude oil for cheap and sidelined its BRICS counterpart by procuring US oil.

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BRICS: India Halts Russian Tankers, Buys More Oil From the US

In the latest update, BRICS member India has halted oil tankers from Russia to avoid US sanctions fallout. The State-run Indian Oil Corp has stopped taking oil cargo from Russia’s Sovcomflot tankers since the end of March. The pushback also came from India’s leading private refinery Reliance Industries, which is the market leader in the country.

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Bloomberg reported that two vessels are waiting for weeks off the South Asian coast without any indication of unloading the oil. BRICS country India has blocked the trade as it is buying more oil from the US this year. The West Texas Intermediate Midland (WTI) is now doing business with Indian oil refiners and accounted for the bulk of its purchases.

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Therefore, cracks are now emerging between BRICS countries India, Russia, and China due to oil procurement. The US is the sole beneficiary of the fallout as billions of dollars worth of crude oil is being exported to India.