Share of Russian crude in India's imports up at 32% in February
Russia expanded its share in India's crude oil imports to 32% in February from 27% in the previous month, little affected by Red Sea tensions and helped by rising demand from state-run refiners in India.
Saudi Arabia became India's second-largest crude supplier in February, with its share rising to 19% from 14%. Iraq was a key loser, falling to 18% from 24%. In November, Russia had a share of 35%, which fell in both December and January before recovering in February.
State-run refiners accounted for 61% of total 1.41 million barrels per day (mbd) of crude India received from Russia in February, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa. These companies' combined share expanded from 52% in January as their daily import volume jumped by a quarter in a month while private sector refiners' intake fell by 12%.
«India's import of Russian crude is up 9% month-on-month in February, with higher arrivals of Urals and Sokol cargoes seen. Sokol cargo discharges resumed last month after being halted in December and January,» said Serena Huang, an analyst at Vortexa.
Urals, the flagship Russian crude grade, made up 82% of imports in February, up from 80% in the previous month, while the share of Sokol rose to 7% from zero.
Stricter enforcement of sanctions on ships carrying Russian crude has made imports riskier. «There is a real risk that logistics constraints could be a bottleneck for Russia's crude exports to India, but we could possibly see increased dark activities to circumvent sanctions and keep flows going,» said
