Reliance buys 1 million barrels of crude from Kuwait's KPC

India’s Reliance has purchased 1 million barrels of heavy crude from Kuwait Petroleum Corp via a tender, four trade sources said.

Last week, KPC issued a tender to sell crude oil that the Al-Zour refinery is unable to process because of unplanned maintenance after a fire.

The cargoes – 500,000 barrels of Kuwait Heavy Crude for loading on December 6 to December 7 and the same volume of Eocene crude for loading on December 8 to December 9 – were awarded to Reliance, the people said.

The prices for the purchase were not immediately clear.

Reliance halted Russian oil purchases last month after Russian producers Rosneft and Lukoil were sanctioned by the United States. The Indian refiner has bought at least 12 million barrels of spot crude from the Middle East and the Americas, Reuters has reported.

India strikes US gas deal under Trump pressure

India said Monday it had signed a “significant” deal that will see the United States supply nearly 10 percent of the Asian giant’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports, as it seeks to diversify its energy sources.

Relations between Washington and New Delhi plummeted in August after President Donald Trump raised tariffs on India to 50 percent, with US officials accusing the country of fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine by buying its discounted oil.

Trump has claimed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to cut its Russian oil imports as part of a prospective trade deal — something New Delhi has not confirmed.

India and the United States remain in talks, despite disagreements over a range of issues including agricultural trade and the Russian oil purchases.

Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said India had signed the one-year deal for 2.2 million tonnes per annum of LPG, sourced from the US Gulf Coast, providing “close to 10 percent” of India’s annual imports of the fuel.

Puri said it was “the first structured contract of US LPG for the Indian market”.