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India’s imports of crude oil from Russia soared to a record 1.6 million barrels per day in February and is now higher than combined imports from traditional suppliers Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Iraq, whom Russia has toppled to become the largest oil source for India, supplied 9,39,921 barrels per day (bpd) oil in February while Saudi supplied 6,47,813 bpd oil.
UAE overtook US to become the fourth largest supplier at 4,04,570 bpd. The US supplied 2,48,430 bpd, down from 3,99,914 bpd in January.
Iraq and Saudi supplies are the lowest in 16 months.
“Indian refiners are enjoying a boost in refining margins from processing discounted Russian crude,” said Vortexa’s head of Asia-Pacific analysis, Serena Huang.
In December, the EU banned Russian seaborne oil and imposed a USD 60-per-barrel price cap, which prevents other countries from using EU shipping and insurance services, unless oil is sold below the cap.
Industry officials said Indian refiners are using UAE’s dirham to pay for oil that is imported at a price lower than USD 60.
“Almost a quarter of the Russian imports are now paid in dirham,” an official said.
From a market share of just 0.2 per cent in India’s import basket before the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Russia’s share in India’s imports rose to 35 per cent in February 2023.
