Several Indian refiners have recently bought crude from Oman and West Africa via tenders, trade sources told Reuters on Wednesday, as term supplies from the Middle East remain choked by the shipping constraints at the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb. In addition, state-run Indian Oil Corporation, the largest refiner by capacity in the country, has bought from Chevron a total of 4 million barrels of West African crude, including Nemba, Saxi Batuque, and Clov grades from Angola, and Congo’s Djeno crude. Since the beginning of the Iran war, Indian refiners have scrambled to replace the lost crude oil supply from the Middle East with alternatives from other producers. India has significantly boosted its imports of Russian crude in recent months, with July imports hitting a new all-time high and accounting for more than half of total Indian crude oil imports. But these aren’t enough and Indian refiners are looking for sources of supply that does not need to transit any of the chokepoints in the Middle East.