{"id":86310,"date":"2026-01-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/mena-india\/2026\/01\/14\/vitol-and-trafigura-pitch-venezuelan-crude-to-india-following-us-approval\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T00:00:00","slug":"vitol-and-trafigura-pitch-venezuelan-crude-to-india-following-us-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/mena-india\/2026\/01\/14\/vitol-and-trafigura-pitch-venezuelan-crude-to-india-following-us-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"Vitol and Trafigura pitch Venezuelan crude to India following US approval"},"content":{"rendered":"

Global<\/strong> commodities traders Vitol and Trafigura have offered Venezuelan crude to Indian and Chinese refiners for delivery in March <\/strong>after securing US approval to market part of Venezuela\u2019s stranded oil, Reuters<\/a> reports, citing unnamed trade sources. The shift will likely impact India\u2019s crude sourcing from MENA producers. <\/p>\n

The offers:<\/strong> Vitol has offered at least one shipment of heavy Venezuelan crude at up to USD 8.50\/ bbl below ICE Brent on a delivered basis to Indian state-owned refiners. Reliance Industries, India\u2019s largest refiner, has indicated<\/a> it would consider Venezuelan barrels if US rules allow sales to non-US buyers.<\/p>\n

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links <\/strong>to our background as well as external sources.)<\/p>\n

India\u2019s crude mix: <\/strong>Any Venezuelan volumes taken by India would be in addition to long-term crude supplies from<\/a><\/strong>MENA producers<\/a>, who make up a significant share of India\u2019s import basket. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait are among <\/a>India\u2019s largest crude suppliers<\/a>, underscoring the central role of Gulf and MENA producers in India\u2019s energy imports. These long-standing supply relationships persist even as Indian refiners evaluate alternative spot avenues.<\/p>\n

India's complex refineries are equipped to process Venezuelan heavy-sour crude<\/strong>, which recently sold at steep reductions due to sanctions and shipping issues. India last imported this crude in May 2025, before US restrictions were imposed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State-owned refiners and Reliance weigh new spot offers against long-term Gulf contracts as US sanctions rules ease for stranded barrels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2410],"tags":[2795,2409,2402,2771,2809],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-86310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-crude","tag-energy","tag-enterpriseam-india","tag-oil-gas","tag-oil-watch","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"e53e9dfc-083d-4f18-b444-59e416bb9a61","order":"5","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/1\/242.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Venezuelan crude Returns to radar with USD 8.50 markdown for Indian refiners","related_issue":[86306],"teaser":"State-owned refiners and Reliance weigh new spot offers against long-term Gulf contracts as US sanctions rules ease for stranded barrels"},"yoast_head":"\nVitol and Trafigura pitch Venezuelan crude to India following US approval - MENA India Corridors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/mena-india\/2026\/01\/14\/vitol-and-trafigura-pitch-venezuelan-crude-to-india-following-us-approval\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vitol and Trafigura pitch Venezuelan crude to India following US approval\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"State-owned refiners and Reliance weigh new spot offers against long-term Gulf 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