Paving the way for trade negotiations? Indian oil refiners increase purchases of US crude oil.

Before the trade negotiations between the United States and India scheduled for next month, Indian oil refiners have significantly increased their purchases of U.S. crude oil. Temporary data from the analysis company Kpler shows that around 11.2 million barrels of crude oil will be delivered from the U.S. to India in June, the highest level since August last year. State-owned refiners, including Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, have already purchased at least 6 million barrels of crude oil from the U.S. through various tenders held this month, which will be delivered to India in June. In addition, private refiner Reliance Industries is also a regular buyer of U.S. crude oil, but it is not clear how much it has purchased for the coming months. India will begin trade negotiations with the United States in the second half of May. Earlier, U.S. President Trump had suspended a 26% "retaliatory tariff" on India. Indian exporters have been urging Indian officials to reach a bilateral trade agreement with the United States as soon as possible. Since Trump announced "retaliatory tariffs" on most U.S. trading partners, concerns about weakening demand due to trade tensions have caused WTI crude oil prices to decline. Senior oil market analyst June Goh of Sparta Commodities said, "The discount on WTI crude oil must be much larger than usual to encourage other Asian countries to buy." He added, "There is also a geopolitical factor, as Asian buyers may seek to purchase more WTI crude oil as a tool in negotiations with the U.S. to lower tariff levels, as seen in Indonesia and India."