Not even Indian state refiners bid to buy that oil because of one-sided terms of the tender, 2 of the sources told Reuters.
Even without those terms, buyers in Europe wouldn’t have bid for Russian cargoes anyway, according to the traders, as many are shunning Russian crude because of ethics or expectations that a potential oil embargo on Russia could make its crude even more toxic than it is now.
Still, some of the 6.5 million barrels on offer could be sold by Rosneft in private deals via talks with individual potential customers.
Rosneft’s main objective in the tender was to announce the requirement of ruble payments to the market, and this was achieved, a source with knowledge of the tender told Reuters.
Last week, reports emerged that Rosneft was offering as many as 37.4 million barrels of the flagship Urals crude for May and June loadings, according to a tender document seen by Bloomberg.
Rosneft also wants 100% pre-payment on the provisional value of the Urals cargoes.
All these stipulations from Rosneft in the firesale tender suggest that Russia and its oil giant are looking to get paid and get the crude sold before a potential EU ban on Russian oil imports.
Author: Tsvetana Paraskova
