India's ONGC sells Russia's Sokol oil to Indian refiners- sources

ONGC may sell more Russian oil cargoes to Indian refiners

India's ONGC Videsh Ltd. has sold at least one cargo of Russian Sokol oil to India refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp after failing to draw interest in a tender earlier this month, sources familiar with the matter said.

Indian companies are snapping up Russian oil as it is available at a deep discounts after some companies and countries shunned purchases from Moscow due to sanctions against Russia for its Ukraine invasion.

India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer and importer, has not banned Russian oil imports.

ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, has a stake in Russia's Sakhalin-1 project and sells its share of the oil from the project through tenders.

In the tender earlier in March, ONGC Videsh did not get any bids for the Sokol crude oil cargo for May loading. The sources said HPCL and BPCL had been able to offer a discounted price for the cargo. This marks the first purchase of Sokol crude by HPCL. BPCL had previously purchased the grade in 2016.

The two refiners will pay ONGC in rupees, the sources added.

One of the sources said ONGC Videsh will look at selling more cargos to Indian refiners if there is no interest from overseas buyers.