Saudi Arabia approved sales of 3 million barrels of extra crude to India for August, sources with direct knowledge of the sale said Tuesday. With oil trading at around $100 a barrel, the additional volumes are worth $300 million. At stake is 400,000 barrels per day of oil, equal to 12 percent of India's total demand of 3.46 million bpd. Saudi Aramco has confirmed the supply of additional volumes to Indian refiners," one of the sources said. "One million barrels each to Bharat Petroleum, Essar and Hindustan Petroleum. It is a mix of Arab light, Arab Heavy and Arab Medium." Sources at Indian refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Essar Oil said that Aramco had confirmed it would supply each of them with an additional 1 million barrels of crude in August. Indian buyers reached out to Aramco last week to request additional oil. India's refiners have also sought additional barrels for August from Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Iran cut sales for August to pressure Indian refiners into settling $5 billion in debts for oil supplied. "India has a back-up plan to cope with a halt to crude supplies from Iran, S. Jaipal Reddy, its oil minister said on July 21. He did not elaborate on the plan.
