Russia largest oil supplier to India in October, surpasses Iraq

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 6

Russia became India’s largest oil supplier in October, surpassing traditional top sellers 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 cargo tracker Vortexa.

Russian oil accounted for 22 per cent of India’s total crude imports in October as against 20.5 per cent from Iraq and 16 per cent from Saudi Arabia. Russian oil made up for 0.2 per cent of total crude imports in the year ended March 31, 2022.

Before war broke out in Ukraine, India imported an average of 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 unloaded its oil in the market with heavy discounts. In March, India bought 2.66 lakh barrels, rising gradually to an all-time high of 9.42 lakh barrels in June.

Union Ministers S Jaishankar and Hardeep Puri have defended India’s oil trade with Russia at a time when the West is giving a call to boycott commodities exported by Moscow to punish it for initiating a war in Ukraine.

Puri had recently said, “We buy only a quarter of what Europe buys in one afternoon… We don’t buy from X or Y. We buy whatever is available. I don’t do the buying, it’s the oil companies that buy.”

To a question if there was any moral conflict in buying oil from Russia, he had said, “Absolutely none.”

Import index

22% Russia

20.5% Iraq

16% Saudi Arabia

• Russia supplied an average of 9.35L barrels per day in Oct
• India didn’t import a single barrel from Russia in Jan & Feb

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