India’s HPCL Faces Oil Payment Issues Amid Price Cap

Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd is facing payment issues for its purchases of Russian crude oil due to the price cap imposed on Russian oil exports, a company executive said.

• The refiner is unwilling to declare its buying price for Russian crude, and that is making it difficult for the company to find western banks willing to process such payments, the executive said.
• Previously, HPCL had paid for Russian crude barrels in US dollars, UAE dirhams and Russian rubles, said the executive.
• The payment issue is unlikely to have much impact on Russia-to-India crude flows as workarounds are currently being considered, he added.
• HPCL is estimated to process 15mn tons of imported crude in the current financial year ending 31 March, of which 2mn tons were purchased on a spot basis from Russia.
• India imported a record of 1.4mbpd of Russian crude oil in January, accounting for 27% of total oil imports, data from trade sources showed.