United States Ambassador to India Sergio Gor on Friday said that Washington is in “active negotiation” over the sale of Venezuelan oil to New Delhi, Reuters reported. He said that the import of Venezuelan oil will help India diversify its sources of crude oil.
“The Department of Energy is speaking to the Ministry of Energy here, and so we’re hoping to have some news of that very soon,” the news agency quoted Gor as saying on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi where India joined Pax Silica, a US-led group to coordinate supply chains for semiconductors, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.
The US has been urging India to diversify its oil imports away from Russia as a condition for cutting tariffs.
On February 2, India and the US had agreed on a framework for an interim trade agreement. Under the agreement, US tariffs on Indian goods would be reduced to 18% from the combined rate of 50%.
At the time, US President Trump had said that India would buy more oil from the US and potentially Venezuela, Reuters reported.
Earlier, Indian goods had been facing a combined US tariff rate of 50%, including a punitive levy of 25% imposed in August.
The punitive tariffs were introduced as part of Trump’s pressure campaign against countries buying discounted oil from Russia amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. The US had claimed that India stopped purchasing Russian oil after the tariffs were imposed.
However, India has maintained that the tariffs were unjustified and said its oil purchases were guided by energy security considerations.
On Friday, Gor said that a final trade agreement with India would be signed “sooner than later” as a “few tweaking points” are required, Reuters reported. He added that Trump has also been invited to India by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
Gor added: “On the oil, there’s an agreement... We have seen India diversify on their oil. There is a commitment. This is not about India. The United States doesn’t want anyone buying Russian oil.”
Earlier in the day, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal also said that the interim agreement between India and the US was likely to be signed in March and operationalised in April.
A three-day meeting between officials from New Delhi and Washington to finalise the legal text of the agreement would begin in the US on February 23.
In January, Reuters had reported that the US had pitched the sale of Venezuelan oil to India to help replace Russian oil imports.
This came after the US military abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in an overnight operation on January 3.
The US had accused Maduro of narco terrorism and drug trafficking, among other crimes – allegations that he has rejected.
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, but is not among the top 10 producers.
Since 2019, the South American country’s oil production and export have been sharply restricted after Trump, in his first term as US president, imposed sanctions. The curbs intensified in December, after Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil vessels heading to and leaving Venezuela.
On January 7, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that Washington would control the sales of sanctioned Venezuelan oil “indefinitely”.
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