Just days after the US slapped sanctions on Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil, India’s largest refiner Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Monday said that it will comply with all sanctions imposed by the international community, but declined to comment directly on the future of the company’s Russian oil imports. Moscow’s crude made up 21 per cent of IOC’s overall oil import basket in the April-September period.

“We will abide by all sanctions imposed by the international community,” IOC Chairman Arvinder Singh Sahney said, without commenting specifically on Russian oil imports. According to industry watchers and insiders, Sahney’s comments may be indicative of public sector refiners steering clear of buying barrels directly from either of the two Russian companies, which account for over

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