Refiners continue to snap up the plentiful Russian cargo available at a discount compared to other grades.
New Delhi:
India’s crude imports from Russia touched a new high of 1.64 million barrels per day in March and are now twice that of purchases from Iraq – the country’s traditional top oil supplier. But the buying seems to have stalled as growth has slowed down.
Russia remained the biggest supplier of crude, which is converted into petrol and diesel at refineries, for the sixth month in a row, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa.
Refiners continue to snap up the plentiful Russian cargo available at a discount compared to other grades.
From a market share of less than 1 per cent in India’s import basket before the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in February 2022, Russia’s share in India’s imports rose to 1.64 million barrels per day in March, a 34 per cent share.
Purchases from Russia in March were more than double the 0.82 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil purchased from Iraq, which has been India’s top oil supplier since 2017-18.
India, the world’s third-biggest crude importer after China and the United States, has been snatching Russian oil, available after a waiver by some in the West, as a means of punishing Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Was.
Month-on-month purchases from Russia rose marginally from the 1.62 million bpd oil imported from the country in February.
According to Vortexa, Saudi Arabia was India’s second largest supplier of crude oil in March, selling 986,288 bpd. Iraq was the third largest supplier with 821,952 bpd sales.
The United Arab Emirates overtook the US to become the fourth largest supplier at 313,002 bpd. The US supplied 136,464 bpd, down from 248,430 bpd in February.
“While India continued to increase its imports of Russian crude month-on-month in March, growth slowed,” said Serena Huang, head of Asia-Pacific analysis at Vortex.
“Refiners’ purchases of medium-sour Russian Urals have held steady in March, and the increase in imports is attributed to higher purchases of sweeter grades such as Novy Port Light.” India’s import of Russian oil could have stabilized.
“Given the need to fulfill its contracts with Middle East Gulf producers, the plateau of India’s imports of Russian Urals may indicate a soft limit on its ability to take in more sour crude.
“But domestic refiners have room to increase purchases of sweeter grades such as Sokol, ESPO blend and Novi Port Light in the interest of keeping refining runs high and diversifying their crude sources,” Huang said.
Russia is selling a record amount of crude oil to India to bridge the gap in its energy exports after the European Union banned imports in December.
In December, the EU embargoed Russian marine oil and imposed a price cap of US$60 a barrel, which prevents other countries from using EU shipping and insurance services as long as the oil is below the cap. is not sold
Industry officials said Indian refiners are using UAE dirhams to pay for oil imported at prices below US$60.
“About a quarter of Russian imports are now paid for in dirhams,” said an official.
According to Vortexa, India imported only 68,600 bpd of oil from Russia in March 2022 and purchases have increased to 1,646,311 bpd this year.
Year-to-date, imports from Iraq have fallen from 1,139,880 bpd in March 2022 to 821,952 bpd this year. However, the biggest decline has been in US imports – 136,464 bpd from 419,071 bpd.
Saudi Arabia is selling more oil than the 872,683 bpd it sold in March last year.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)