Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. will start operating a Singapore office in the quarter beginning April, according to people familiar with the matter, with an initial focus on procuring crude oil in the trading hub.

India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp. will open a trading office in Singapore next month, as the state-owned refiner seeks to become more flexible in its feedstock procurement process and reduce costs to boost processing margins, Chairman Sanjay Khanna said on Thursday.

Indian state-owned refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp. is seeking to lock in long-term Middle East crude purchases, in the latest sign that the world’s third-largest oil importer is edging back toward traditional suppliers and away from a heavy reliance on cheap Russian cargoes.