The United States, which imposed tariffs on India last year for buying Venezuelan oil, has told Delhi it can resume those purchases soon to help replace imports of Russian oil, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
India pledged to slash Russian crude oil purchases after Washington also hiked tariffs related to that activity, and India is on track to lower its Russian oil imports by several hundred thousand barrels per day in the coming months, according to the sources, who declined to be identified.
President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on countries buying Venezuelan oil including India in March 2025, and his administration ramped up a campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom U.S. forces captured on January 3.
Since then, Washington has begun directing the Caracas government and plans to control Venezuela’s oil industry indefinitely. The U.S. effort to supply Venezuelan crude to India comes as Washington also seeks to reduce Russian oil revenues that are funding the war in Ukraine.
The sources did not provide detail on whether the Venezuelan oil would be marketed by outside trading houses like Vitol or Trafigura or would be sold directly by Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA.
The White House and the U.S. Treasury Department declined to comment. India’s oil minister and foreign ministry did not respond to emails seeking comment.
India became a major buyer of Russian oil after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered Western sanctions that drove down its price.
Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri last week said India is diversifying its crude sources as its Russian oil imports fall.
Two of the Reuters sources said India is preparing to cut Russian oil imports to below one million barrels per day soon.
In January, they were around 1.2 million bpd, and are projected to decline to about 1 million bpd in February and 800,000 bpd in March, one of those two sources said.
The second of the two sources said those imports are expected eventually to decline to about 500,000-600,000 bpd, helping the nation clinch a trade deal with the United States.
U.S. tariffs on Indian goods reached 50% in August as Washington added a further 25% tariff over purchases of Russian oil. Challenges posed by Western sanctions eventually prompted Indian refiners to increase imports from other sources.
Data from trade sources showed India’s Russian oil imports fell to their lowest level in two years in December, lifting OPEC’s share of Indian imports to an 11-month high.
Indian refiners have been buying more oil from Middle Eastern, African and South American countries to make up for a drop in Russian oil imports.
State-run Hindustan Petroleum, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals and private refiners HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd have already stopped buying Russian oil.
Private refiner Reliance Industries, operator of the world’s largest refining complex, will buy up to 150,000 bpd Russian oil from February, a company source said this week.
Other state refiners Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp have slowed purchases of Russian oil, officials at the India Energy Week conference this week said.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Cynthia Osterman)