India’s oil imports from Russia snared by Trump order, tariff threat

India’s imports of Russian oil could almost halve from already weaker recent levels, according to people with direct knowledge of the purchases, after US President Donald Trump issued an order detailing some terms of a trade deal between the two nations.All state-owned and private refiners, with the exception of Nayara Energy Ltd, had paused buying any spot cargoes since Trump first mentioned the deal in a social media post about a week ago, according to the people, who asked not to be named discussing sensitive information. While India confirmed the trade deal, it has not commented on details including oil.That hiatus is now likely to be extended following the executive order issued on Friday, they said, with purchases likely to roughly halve from an average of 1.2 million barrels a day in January.The White House said in the order that “India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” and that import tariffs on all Indian goods may be raised if it resumes purchases.Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement on Saturday that the nation’s energy security was its “supreme priority”, and that India would continue to diversify its imports.The Indian refiners had spent an uneasy weekend scrutinising the US order, sources said, adding that they hadn’t yet received any guidance from New Delhi and were not expecting it to come any time soon.