India, the world’s third largest oil-consuming and importing nation, welcomes the return of Venezuelan oil to the market after sanctions on the Latin American nation were eased, petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.

Without saying that India has resumed purchases from Venezuela, he said some refiners in the country can process heavy crude oil produced in the Latin American nation.

India last imported Venezuelan crude in 2020.

The US treasury department in October partially lifted sanctions on Venezuela’s oil and gas sector.

The partially lifted sanctions are through a new six-month licence authorising transactions in the country’s oil and gas sector.

The licence is to be renewed only if Venezuela can meet commitments leading to fair voting in the next year’s presidential election.

“We always buy from Venezuela. We have always bought stuff from Venezuela. It’s when Venezuela came under sanctions that they were not able to supply,” Puri told reporters here.

He said many refineries, including Indian Oil Corporation’s Paradip refinery in
Odisha, are capable of processing the heavy Venezuelan oil into fuels such as petrol and diesel.

“We will buy,” he said.

Brazil to join Opec+

Brazil is expected to join the Opec+ group of oil-producing countries in January but would not take part in the group’s co-ordinated output caps, the chief executive of state-run oil firm Petrobras told Reuters.

The group’s surprising announcement that the South American nation would join it raised immediate questions on whether Brazil would take part in the production caps, as Opec+ nations agreed to voluntary cuts approaching 2 million barrels per day (bpd) for early next year.

“There is no quota,” Jean Paul Prates said in an interview.