(PTI)
State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) has bought the country’s first shale oil from the US and is looking to step up imports from America as part of its crude diversification strategy. IOC bought 1.9 million barrels of US crude in its second import tender seeking oil from the Americas, company Director (Finance) A K Sharma told PTI here. India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, joins Asian countries like South Korea, Japan and China to buy US crude after production cuts by OPEC drove up prices of Middle East heavy-sour crude, or grades with a high sulphur content. IOC had last month sealed a deal to import 1.6 million barrels of Mars crude from the US and 400,000 barrels of Western Canadian Select oil for delivery at its Paradip refinery in Odisha — the first ever such purchase of US crude by an Indian state-run refiner.
“In the second tender, we have bought 950,000 barrels of light sweet Eagle Fordshale oil and 950,000 barrels of heavy sour Mars crude. This is for delivery in end-October,” he said adding the oil was bought from trading firm Trafigura. The first cargo was loaded on ships on August 7 and would after a 40-day journey reach Paradip sometime around September 20, he said. Sharma said IOC has received government nod for buying one cargo (or shipload) of US oil every month till March 2018. India allows import of crude oil only on Indian carriers but US oil can be imported only on foreign vessels. So a special permission is needed for using foreign-flagged ships for ferrying the oil. “Shipping Ministry has given as permission to import one cargo from US on DES (Delivered Ex Ship) basis,” he said.
