NEW DELHI: Russia has offered India to lease and build very large crude carriers (VLCC) as insurance on Russian oil. “Traditionally India couldn’t get large quantities of crude from Russia as there weren’t any VLCC’s. However, now with India’s imports from Russia reaching nearly 30 per cent of total requirement, VLCC is the need of the hour.
This can also remove insurance liability on India as after price cap most insurers have backed out
from insuring Russian crude,” say sources. This offer was given when Russian Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak met India’s Ambassador to Russia, Pavan Kapoor on December 9th.
In 2021, bilateral trade between Russia, India increased by 46.5 per cent, exceeding $13.5 billion. From January to September 2022 trade reached $20.4 billion.