India Seems Thirsty For Russian Oil As It Surpasses Iraq In Terms Of The Amount Of Oil It Buys From Russia!

India now imports 2X crude oil from Russian governance, surpassing Iraq, the country’s traditional lending oil provider, making a record high of 1.64 million barrels per day in March. However, growth has slowed, and the purchases seem to have reached a plateau. If we study informatics from energy cargo tracker Vortexa, Russian governance was the only giant provider of crude. The Russian governance converted into petrol and diesel at refineries for a 6th straight month by providing more than 1/3rd of all the oil our country paid for and bought.

How much oil does India import from Russia?

Russian cargo that is tremendous and priced lower than other grades is still being snatched up by refiners. When February 2022 marked the onset of the Russia-Ukraine crisis,  Russia had a market share of a minimal portion, i.e. less than 1% of India’s imports. Surprisingly, in March, it had gained upward traction to 1.64 million barrels per day, accounting for 34% of India’s imports. The 0.82 million barrels per day of oil India acquired from Iraq in March, which has been its leading oil provider since 2017–18, was more than doubled by purchases from Russia.

India is the 3rd supreme importer of crude oil on a global platform preceded by the dragon country China and the superpower country US. It has been taking the liberty of Russian oil that was on sale after some countries in the West avoided it in terms of revenge for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Oil imports from Russia increased a little monthly from 1.62 million barrels per day in February.  Although India’s imports of Russian oil enriched monthly in March, the trend has been put to a halt. This is publicized by Serena Huang, head of Asia-Pacific analysis at Vortexa.

• Saudi Arabia was given the tag of the 2nd supreme crude provider to India in March, selling 986,288 barrels per day. 
• Iraq, being the 3rd largest provider, sold 821,952 barrels per day. 
• UAE passed the United States to take the position to be the 4th largest counting 313,002 barrels per day. 
• From 248,430 barrels per day in February, the U.S. provided 136,464 barrels per day.

In the 3rd month, the refiners made continuous efforts to gain their hold on medium-sour Russian Urals. Here, the rise in imports is contributed to spiked-up purchases of sweeter grades like Novy Port Light. Russian oil imports to India may have reached a zenith that is witnessed by everyone across the world. Given its need to meet its term oaths with producers in the Middle East Gulf, India’s imports of Russian Urals may be plateauing, which may be a sign of a soft limit on its power to take in some more amount of sour crude.

To keep refining runs high and diversify their crude reserves, local refiners are certain to enjoy the prospect to promote their purchases of sweeter grades like Sokol, ESPO mix, and Novy Port Light, Ms Huang added. As a result of the European Union’s import embargo in December, Russia is exporting India unprecedented volumes of crude to fill the gap in its energy exports.

Due to issues brought on by the ample sanctions, European businesses are refraining from buying Russian oil. Other countries are not privileged to take advantage of EU shipping and insurance services if the oil is sold below the ceiling. The EU, at the end of the year, set a ban on Russian seaborne oil and a $60 per barrel price band. People in the industry said that Indian refineries are utilising UAE’s dirham to pay for imported oil that costs less than $60.

An official stated that almost 1/4th of the Russian imports are now completed in the currency, the dirham. In March 2022, our country bought 68,600 barrels per day of oil from Russia, but this year, that number has increased to 1,646,311 barrels per day, taking the data from Vortexa. 

• U.S. imports have decreased the most- 419,071 barrels per day to 136,464 barrels per day.
• Saudi Arabia sold 872,683 barrels per day in March 2022, and this data is increased this year.
• Imports from Iraq have gained traction from last year- 1,139,880 barrels per day in March 2022 to 821,952 barrels per day in 2023. 

Conclusion.

After the US and its allies’ imposition of sanctions on Moscow in response to President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, Russian governance presented crude oil and other commodities to India at reduced prices, which is seeing some consequential results. In light of recent geopolitical changes that pose serious threats to India’s energy security, our country welcomes competitive proposals from all energy providers, including Russia. It materialises that our country plans to continue concentrating on affordable energy sources. But, this strategy is regarded in many areas of the world as contributing to the problem in Ukraine! See how this affects India’s reputation on a global scale.