Market News

Brent crude (BZ=F) futures rose 0.8% to trade at $62.41 per barrel at the time of writing, while West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures gained 1% to $58.89 a barrel. Both benchmarks closed Tuesday at a five-month low.

The uptick came despite the lack of a confirmed timeline from New Delhi, and no official announcement has been made by the Indian government.

India’s foreign ministry responded by reaffirming its commitment to energy security and price stability, noting it would continue to diversify its sourcing.

Alongside China, India has been a major buyer of discounted Russian oil (BZ=F, CL=F), taking advantage of the G7 price cap mechanism aimed at limiting Moscow’s revenues while maintaining global supply.

The US is reportedly trying to get China to also stop buying oil from Moscow, in an attempt to pressure the Kremlin to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine.

Washington has grown increasingly vocal about India's continued purchases of Russian oil, with senior US officials accusing Indian companies of profiting from the war-linked discount. The issue remains a key point of friction in ongoing US-India trade negotiations. India’s trade secretary said on Wednesday the country has capacity to increase oil imports from the US by up to $15bn.

“This is bullish news for sure,” Mukesh Sahdev, CEO of energy consultancy Xanalysts in Sydney, told Bloomberg. “India’s Russian oil imports have been roughly three times those from the US, so replacing those volumes would likely require ramping up purchases from the Middle East.”