Washington, 07 March (H.S.): The United States has quietly approached India to purchase large volumes of Russian crude oil languishing in tankers off southern Asia, aiming to flood refineries and blunt rising global oil prices strained by shipping disruptions near the Strait of Hormuz.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright disclosed the outreach during an interview with ABC News, describing it as a pragmatic, short-term tactic to unlock floating storage and ease supply bottlenecks. We've reached out to our friends in India and said, buy that oil, bring it into your refineries, Wright stated. He highlighted stockpiles of Russian crude originally destined for China but left unclaimed, now idling amid regional volatility.

The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint between Iran and Oman that funnels about 20% of the world's seaborne oil trade, has seen heightened risks from geopolitical flare-ups, inflating freight costs and deterring tankers. Bloomberg reported on March 6 that insurance premiums for vessels transiting the strait have surged over 300% in recent days, while Reuters noted a 5% spike in Brent crude futures to $82 per barrel on Friday, driven by fears of prolonged disruptions.

India, the world's third-largest oil importer, stands poised to act. Refiners like Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy have ramped up Russian imports since 2022, capitalizing on discounts post-Ukraine invasion sanctions. Official data from India's Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell shows Russian crude comprising 40% of India's seaborne imports in February 2026, up from 35% the prior month.

Processing this stranded oil would not only stabilize domestic fuel prices but also free up alternative supplies for global markets, Wright explained.This pulls stored oil immediately into Indian refineries and releases the pressure on other refineries around the world, he added. The US official emphasized the measure's brevity: This is no change in policy towards Russia. This is a very brief change in policy just to keep oil prices down a little bit better than we could otherwise.

Supporting the effort, the US issued India a 30-day waiver on Russian oil purchases earlier this week, as confirmed by State Department briefings cited in The Wall Street Journal.

Russia, meanwhile, has signaled openness; its ambassador to India affirmed in a February interview with The Hindu that Moscow remains eager to supply crude amid shifting alliances.Global energy watchers track the move closely.

The International Energy Agency's latest outlook, released March 5, projects ample long-term supplies but warns of near-term squeezes if Hormuz flows dip below 18 million barrels per day. With India's refining capacity exceeding 5 million barrels daily—much of it geared toward heavy Russian grades—the infusion could cap price surges at 10-15% even under moderate disruptions, per S&P Global analysts.

Wright underscored confidence in sustained abundance: In the long term, supplies are abundant. There's no worries there. As tankers bob in Asian waters, this US-India coordination underscores quiet diplomacy amid turbulent seas.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar