Report: India considers buying discounted Russian oil

India is considering accepting an offer to buy crude oil and other commodities at discounted prices from Russia.

The payment would be carried out via a rupee-rouble transaction if an agreement was reached, two Indian officials told Reuters.

The rupee-rouble transaction is a payment mechanism that allows trade between Russia and India to be transacted using Indian rupees instead of international dollars or euros.

Russia had on Friday indicated an interest in further “attracting Indian investment to the Russian oil and gas sector and expanding Russian companies’ sales networks in India.”

This new development is amid numerous Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

“Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount. We will be happy to take that. We have some issues like tanker, insurance cover and oil blends to be resolved. Once we have that we will take the discount offer,” Reuters quoted one of the Indian government officials as saying.

Some international traders have been avoiding Russian oil to avoid becoming intertwined in sanctions, but the Indian official said sanctions did not prevent India from importing the fuel, Reuters reported.

Work was ongoing to set up a rupee-rouble trade mechanism to be used to pay for oil and other goods, the official said.

The officials, who both declined to be identified, did not disclose the details of how much oil was on offer or what the discount was, Reuters said.

Vladimir Putin had said the sanctions imposed on Russia by western countries over the invasion of Ukraine are like a declaration of war.

Last Tuesday, the US had banned the importation of coal, gas, and oil from Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine.