Russian oil drives OPEC share in India’s imports to document low, knowledge exhibits
India, the world’s third largest oil importer and shopper, has been tapping Russian oil offered at a reduction after Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine warfare.
The South Asian nation imported a mean of 4.88 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil within the fiscal yr to March 2025, a development of 5% over the earlier yr.
Import of Russian oil rose 7.3% to 1.76 million bpd, elevating its share marginally to 36% whereas OPEC’s share slipped barely to 48.5%, the information confirmed.
Russia is an ally of the Group of Petroleum Exporting International locations however has eaten into the market of key OPEC producers from the Center East.
Altered commerce flows resulting from geopolitical tensions and costlier shipments from some conventional suppliers have pushed India to diversify sources of crude and faucet cheaper provides from even far-flung areas similar to Russia. Iraq and Saudi Arabia had been the second and third largest sources of crude for India. India’s oil imports from Saudi Arabia in 2024-25 plunged to the least in 14 years whereas these from Iraq declined to a four-year low, knowledge compiled by Reuters confirmed.
Indian refiners restricted buy of Saudi oil resulting from greater official promoting costs set by state-owned Saudi Aramco for a lot of the yr, trade sources mentioned.
Decrease imports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia dragged down the share of Center East provides in India’s crude imports.
In March, India’s imports of Russian oil rose about 11% from February to 1.7 million bpd, the very best in 5 months, the information confirmed.
India imported 5.3 million bpd oil in March, up 1.3% from the earlier month, the information confirmed. The U.S. was the fourth largest oil provider to India in the course of the month.
