OREANDA-NEWS Over the past two months, discounts on Russian oil imported by Indian companies have doubled to $8-10 per barrel. This is with reference to sources familiar with the situation, writes The Times of India.

State oil refineries (refineries), which account for two-thirds of oil refining in the country, were able to achieve such a result by reducing purchases. After the increase in discounts, the share of Russian raw materials in India's total oil imports increased again from 33 percent in August to 38 percent in September.

If in August purchases of Russian oil from state refineries fell by 30 percent, then in September they increased by 25 percent, and stopped there. In addition, as the publication notes, now companies prefer to purchase raw materials from resellers in order to get an additional discount and avoid difficulties with payment.

The money is transferred in US dollars or UAE dirhams, which are pegged to the dollar. For a while, companies tried to use Chinese yuan, but the government expressed its disapproval of this approach. As for payment in rupees, this practice has almost been discontinued due to the difficulties of withdrawing Indian currency from the country.