India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer, gets a
bulk of its Russian supplies through the Red Sea. Russian supplies made up for over 35 per cent of India’s total crude
imports in 2023, amounting to 1.7 million barrels per day.
Russian ships and cargoes are not being prime targets
of the attacks at this stage however rerouting of ships around the southern tip
of Africa instead of transiting through the Suez Canal and Red Sea has led to
ships taking longer voyages, resulting in the shortage of ships and rise in
freight charges.In a post-third quarter earnings call with investors, Joshi
said HPCL has tied up crude oil supplies till mid-April and it does not see any
supply disruptions.
HPCL meets 44-45 per cent of its crude oil needs on
term contracts with national oil companies such as those in Saudi Arabia and
Iraq. The remaining is on the spot or from the current market, he said.
“Term crude has not been impacted (due to the Red Sea
crisis),” he said, adding the spot imports are on DES basis where the shipping
is arranged by the supplier. “The spot supplies too are not
impacted.” HPCL, he said, has “already tied up crude requirements till
fiscal year end (in March) and the first couple of weeks of April.” “Crude oil supplies have not seen any
disruption as of now. This has definitely impacted the freight rates and
freight rates have travelled northward.” Spot imports include opportunity
crude such as Russian oil which is sold at a discount because some western
nations have shunned it due to Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Shippers are avoiding the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab
Strait after a US-led coalition struck Iran-backed Houthi militants in northern
Yemen. This however has impacted diesel exports to Europe. Longer voyages have hit diesel cargo cost, which has increased by USD
850,000-1 million.
Due to the rerouting of a voyage through the Cape of
Good Hope instead of going through the Suez Canal, shipments from India to the
US will take an additional 10-14 days, while shipments from Europe/the
Mediterranean will take 20-25 days.