India's Reliance says it expects no Russian crude deliveries in January

With Reliance halting Russian crude purchases, India's oil imports from Russia are set to fall further in January, with China the only major outlet for Moscow.

Indian authorities asked refiners for weekly disclosures of Russian and US oil purchases, people familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported last week. The sources said they expect Russian crude imports to dip below one million barrels per day as New Delhi seeks to clinch a trade deal with Washington.

Stricter US and European Union sanctions have already slowed Russian oil flows to India, which fell to a three-year low of about 1.2 million bpd in December, according to sources and analytics firm Kpler. That marks a roughly 40 per cent drop from a June peak of around two million bpd.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Writing by Florence Tan; Editing by Sonali Paul and Jacqueline Wong)