Russia Captures Record Share of India’s Oil Market

Crude oil imports from Russia accounted for over 50% of India’s total import volumes last month. This was the highest share of Russian oil in India’s import mix, Reuters noted in a report that cited unnamed trade sources.

Russia exported crude at a rate of some 2.47 million barrels daily to India last month, which was a 62.4% surge from a year ago and represented a 50.83% share of total oil imports into the world’s third-largest oil buyer. However, July volumes were a decline on June’s average, which stood at 2.6 million barrels daily and was the highest monthly average for Russian oil shipments to India.

Earlier, Kpler estimated that Russian oil flows to India in July averaged 2.45 million barrels daily, despite the expiration of a U.S. sanction waiver on these flows. Per the Kpler data, Russia remained India’s largest oil supplier, followed by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Both, however, shipped much lower volumes, at 617,000 barrels daily for the UAE and 586,000 bpd for Saudi Arabia.

Russian oil has been flowing at all-time high rates to India since the start of the latter’s new fiscal year on April 1. Volumes have averaged over 2 million barrels daily, making up over 42% of India’s total oil imports in the period. This compares to a share of 37% for Russian oil volumes for India a year earlier.

This, however, may change after the latest U.S. sanctions, Reuters noted, recalling that those sanctions involve slapping 100% tariffs on imports from countries that buy Russian crude. The bill passed the Senate but is yet to be approved by the House of Representatives. Choking India’s oil imports from Russia could be tricky because, with the war in the Middle East ongoing, there are limited alternative sources for the volumes that Indian refiners need, even accounting for record U.S. exports.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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