Procuring Oil From Venezuela Is Not A Cheap Deal.

Caracas; February 2026: India’s state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation has made its first-ever purchase of Venezuelan oil, and private refiner HPCL Mittal Energy Ltd (HMEL) has bought the South American country’s crude for the first time in two years, as per official Venezuelan sources.

The two refiners have bought a million barrels each of Venezuela’s Merey crude grade, the sources said. The heavy oil, purchased through two separate deals, is planned to be co-loaded on a very large crude carrier to save on shipping cost, and will boost India’s imports of Venezuelan crude to at least 06 million barrels through April, the sources said.

Bharat Petroleum and HMEL purchased the Venezuelan oil from trader Vitol, although the economic matrix yet to be revealed.

HMEL, a joint venture of state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and steel tycoon Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, previously received Venezuelan oil in February 2024, trade flow data from LSEG and Kpler showed. Indian refiners have been buying Venezuelan oil to diversify their supply mix as they reduce Russian oil imports, a move that can help India in clinching an interim trade priority with US. HMEL suspended Russian oil imports in October. India although has not officially announced any plans to end oil imports from Russia, but Indian refiners have been avoiding Russian oil.

Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corporation and HPCL, have previously bought Venezuelan oil at around $6.5-$7 per barrel below the Dubai crude oil benchmark. Traders Vitol and Trafigura have been marketing and selling the South American country’s oil since January under licenses granted by the U.S. as part of a supply deal between Venezuela and United States.

As per the present deal, BPCL will split the cargo equally for discharge at Kochi port in the southern state of Kerala for its 310,000 barrel-per-day Kochi refinery, and at Sikka port in western Gujarat state for its 156,000-bpd Bina refinery in central India.

HMEL imports crude through the Mundra port in western Gujarat state for its 226,000-bpd Bathinda refinery in northern India.

Exports of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. are also expected to pick up in April, with refiner Valero Energy set to receive up to 6.5 million barrels of Venezuelan crude in March, Chevron is rapidly boosting shipments from the country to the U.S. and other U.S. refiners seeking direct purchases from Venezuela.

Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Department has said on Wednesday (early Thursday IST) that companies working in the Venezuelan oil business must pay local taxes, permits and fees to the government of Venezuela, while royalties and federal taxes must be paid into a fund managed by the United States.

The Treasury said the royalties on energy, fixed per-barrel levies and federal taxes must be paid into the Foreign Government Deposit Funds, managed by the Trump administration. The information is in a document called Frequently Asked Questions, which was viewed by Maverick News.

Suvro Sanyal – Team Maverick.