Russia was India’s biggest oil supplier in October, beating classic smarter distributors from Saudi Arabia and Iraq by supplying an average of 9. 35 lakh barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil last month, according to data from energy load tracker Vortexa.
New Delhi, 6 November
Russia was India’s biggest oil supplier in October, beating classic smarter distributors from Saudi Arabia and Iraq by supplying an average of 9. 35 lakh barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil last month, according to data from energy load tracker Vortexa.
Russian oil accounted for 22% of India’s total crude imports in October, with 20. 5% coming from Iraq and 16% from Saudi Arabia. Russian oil accounted for 0. 2% of total crude oil imports in the year ended March 31, 2022.
Before the war broke out in Ukraine, India imported 36,255 bpd of crude oil from Russia in December last year. During that month, India imported 10. 5 lakh bpd from Iraq and 9. 52 lakh bpd from Saudi Arabia.
Interestingly, India did not import a single barrel from Russia in January and February, but imports surged after Moscow threw its oil on the market at steep discounts. In March, India bought 2. 66 lakh barrels, reaching an all-time high of 9. 42 lakh barrels. in June.
EU ministers S Jaishankar and Hardeep Puri have defended India’s oil industry with Russia at a time when the West is calling for a boycott of Moscow’s exports to punish it for a war in Ukraine.
Puri recently said: “We only buy a quarter of what Europe buys in an afternoon. . . We don’t buy from X or Y. We buy everything that’s available. I don’t buy, it’s the oil corporations that buy.
Asked if there is an ethical conflict in Russia’s oil purchase, he replied: “Absolutely none. “
Import index
22% Russia
20. 5% Iraq
16% Saudi Arabia
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