Russia has put India on top of its priority list as it looks to ramp up crude exports and expand its downstream presence.
One of the last bulwarks of global crude demand, India has been in the thick of national NOCs’ attention – Saudi Arabia will from now on participate in India’s Strategic Reserves and has signed up to build a greenfield 1.2mbpd refinery in the state of Maharashtra, the UAE-based ADNOC has joined Saudi Aramco in its refinery project and is seeking further investment opportunities. Ever since Rosneft bought the 400kbpd Vadinar Refinery (now known as Nayara) from Essar Oil in 2017, Russia has been present on the Indian downstream market – this acquisition turned out to be one of the crucial elements of President Maduro’s survival in Venezuela, as Nayara was the top outlet for PDVSA crude. Three years on, Russia wants a bigger share.
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