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Even as U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Monday (February 3, 2026) night that India has agreed to buy more oil from Venezuela, Indian refiners in the recent past have spoken about difficulties in refining the oil received from the South American nation. This is primarily to do with the fact that Venezuelan crude is comparatively difficult to process, and its properties are not very similar to any other crude, they said.
Notably, the Indian authorities have not yet confirmed or denied Mr. Trump’s assertions regarding India’s oil purchases. Earlier this month in an analyst call, state-owned refiner Hindustan Petroleum’s Director for Refineries S. Bharathan had stated, “Venezuelan crude apart from being bottom-heavy, also has high viscosity and high acid number.”
In other words, the heavy crude oil is thicker, thus, the higher viscosity is indicative of its resistance to flow while the higher acid number indicates the chemical mix existing naturally in the oil.
Further, speaking to The Hindu last week on the side lines of the India Energy Week in Goa, Sanjay Khanna, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Petroleum as well as its Director for Refineries had also enumerated that the bottom-heavy crude had high metal and nitrogen content.
“It [Venezuelan crude] would have to be co-blended with other lighter crude, up to a 10-15% range and then processed,” he explained. Mr. Khanna said that the company’s refineries in Bina (Madhya Pradesh) and Kochi (Kerala) would be able to process the crude.
Importantly, the Bharat Petroleum chief emphasised the priority for procurement of crude oil from any geography is pillared on “techno-commercial” viability and availability.
Published – February 03, 2026 07:01 pm IST