Share of Russian oil in India's imports rises to 35% in FY24
Russia captured a larger share of India's crude imports in the just-ended fiscal year despite narrowing discounts on its oil and sanctions imposed by G7 nations due its invasion of Ukraine.
The share of Russian oil in India's total imports rose to 35% in 2023-24 from 23% in the previous year, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa. During the year, all other key suppliers, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and the US lost share in the Indian market. Iraq's share fell to 20% (from 21%). Similar drops were noted for Saudi Arabia (15% from 17.5%), UAE (6% from 9%), and the US (3.5% from 5.5%).
Russia supplied 1.57 million barrels a day (mb/d) in FY24, up from 1mb/d in the previous year. Iraq's supply of 0.89 mb/d in 2023-24 was lower than 0.95 mb/d in the previous year. Saudi's supply fell to 0.69 mb/d from 0.78 mb/d.
«What has ensured Russia's dominance in the Indian market is discount. Otherwise, why would Indian refiners buy from Russia? It takes much longer and costs much more to ship oil from Russia to India,» said an oil industry executive, asking not to be named. Discounts on Russian oil have, meanwhile, dropped sharply from the days immediately after the start of the Ukraine war in February 2022. Urals, the flagship Russian crude, was sold at a discount of as much as $30 per barrel to Brent, the international benchmark in March 2022. Prior to the war, the differential was barely a dollar or two. For Indian state refiners looking to source cheaper Russian crude without having to deal with the challenges
