Saudi Aramco has assured that the attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities earlier this week will not disrupt oil supply to India, said petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

He said the government and refineries are observing the situation and that it will take some time to know the actual impact on the Indian market.

Separately, Reuters reported that Saudi Aramco has offered Indian Oil Corp. Arab Heavy crude oil instead of Arab Light. IOC will receive full allocated volumes from Saudi Aramco in September and October, Reuters said, citing an industry source.

Pradhan also said that India is looking at raising oil imports from Russia. Pradhan, who met the chief executive of Russian oil major Rosneft, Igor Sechin, also said that four Indian companies also plan to raise their investment in Russia's oilfields, reported news agency ANI.

Also Read: How the attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facility impacts India

Yemen's Houthi rebels launched drone attacks on the world's largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and a major oil field Saturday, sparking huge fires and halting about half of the supplies from the world's largest exporter of oil. Following the attack, oil prices surged around 10 percent.

The disruption in Saudi Arabia's global oil supply could impact countries which are major importers of Saudi crude, such as India, China and Indonesia.

The news raises a lot of concerns into the market especially for India, which is the third-largest oil consumer in the world and Saudi Arabia is the second-largest supplier of crude oil and cooking gas to India. The nation's 85 percent of imported oil comes from the Opec countries, which has come down lately due to the crisis in Iran and Venezuela.

First Published:Sept 17, 2019 2:09 PM IST