OPEC’s market share in India slumped to an all-time low of below 50% of India’s crude oil imports in the 2024-2025 fiscal year, as Russian oil flows to the world’s third-largest crude importer continued to rise and dent the share of the Middle Eastern producers.
India’s imports of crude from Russia increased by 7.3% to an average of 1.76 million barrels per day (bpd) in the 2024-2025 fiscal year ending March 31, 2025, according to data obtained and compiled by Reuters. This gave Russia, now India’s single largest crude supplier, a 36% share of the market of an average of 4.88 million bpd of total imports.
While the Russian share of Indian oil imports rose slightly in 2024-2025 from a year earlier and has been steadily increasing for the past three years, the share of OPEC in India’s crude purchases declined to 48.5%, an all-time low, according to the data.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the bans on Russian oil in the West, India has become a key buyer of Russian crude, alongside China. Russia, for its part, became the single biggest oil supplier to India.
Russia is an ally of OPEC in the OPEC+ agreements to “stabilize the market,” but it has been denting the share of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other major Middle Eastern OPEC producers in India.
Indian imports of Saudi crude fell to the lowest in 14 years, Reuters has estimated. The higher official selling prices (OSPs) of Saudi supply for most months in 2024-2025 haven’t helped higher purchases amid available cheap oil from Russia, industry sources told Reuters.
The price-sensitive Indian buyers have preferred cheap Russian crude supply, when available.
India will continue to buy Russian oil if it is sold below the $60 per barrel price cap and delivered on non-sanctioned tankers and without any involvement of sanctioned companies or individuals, Indian officials said earlier this year after the U.S. sanctions in January created market chaos for several weeks before tanker supply chains adapted.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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