Indian refiners make rare purchases of Guyanese grades

(Reuters) – Two Indian refiners have bought 4 million barrels of Guyanese crude oil from U.S. major Exxon Mobil to be delivered at the end of 2025 or in early 2026, in rare imports from the South American producer, trade sources said on Friday.

Indian Oil Corp, the country’s largest refiner by capacity, has bought 2 million barrels of Golden Arrowhead (GAH) crude, its first purchase of the grade, which will arrive in late December or in early January, they said on condition of anonymity.

Another refiner, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, has bought Liza and Unity Gold crude for the first time, with 2 million barrels set for delivery during the same period, the sources said.

India is diversifying its crude supplies by trying out new grades from South America where production is growing.

Adding more crude sources would also help refiners to replace some imports of Russian oil. The U.S. is pressuring New Delhi to stop buying Russian crude to help end the war in Ukraine.

Guyana is ramping up exports as its oil production from a consortium led by Exxon has risen to 770,000 barrels per day (bpd) following the start-up of the group’s fourth floating output facility.

The country’s crude exports reached an all-time high of 938,000 bpd in October, data from analytics firm Kpler showed, since it started exports of the latest grade GAH in July.