State-run refiner Indian Oil has invited initial bids for 24 million barrels of oil from the Americas for the January-March quarter in 2026, according to a document seen by Reuters on Thursday.

Many Indian refiners paused new orders for Russian oil after the U.S. imposed sanctions last week on Moscow's top two producers, with some turning to the spot market for alternatives, industry sources have said.

Indian Oil, the country's biggest refiner, is looking to gauge market interest in the event that it needs to buy oil from the Americas, a source aware of the tender told Reuters.

India became the biggest importer of seaborne Russian crude in the aftermath of Moscow's 2022 Ukraine invasion.

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