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Indian refiners cornered over one-third of Russia’s crude oil exports in H1 2024
India, the world’s third largest crude oil consumer, accounted for more than one-third of Russia’s cumulative crude oil exports in the first half of the current calendar year.
Besides, India coupled with China and Turkey bought more than 90 per cent of the crude oil shipped out of the erstwhile Soviet Union during January-June 2024.
According to the Energy Comment series by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), Russian crude exports to China, India, and Turkey accounted for 93 per cent of the total in H1 2024 Calendar Year (CY).
India and China accounted for the lion’s share at 48 per cent and 34 per cent, respectively, the commentary, by Bassam Fattouh and Andreas Economou, added.
As per the data from energy intelligence firm Vortexa, India’s crude oil imports from Russia during H1 2024 averaged at around 1.6 million barrels per day (mb/d) compared to roughly 1.7 mb/d imported in the year-ago period.
Particularly for India, the Energy Comment pointed out that the transformation has been “phenomenal”. Prior to the 2022 sanctions on Russian oil, India’s largest annual intake of Russian crude was 52,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2017.
In 2023, India’s imports of Russian crude averaged nearly 1.8 mb/d accounting for nearly 40 per cent of the country’s total imports, while on a monthly basis they reached as high as 2.2 mb/d,” it added.
There are reports that India’s state-owned refineries are considering entering into long-term oil supply agreements with Russia. But this has not been without its challenges, the latest Energy Comment said. For instance, it said that “payment issues” have caused the diversion of some Russian cargoes away from India.
“Russia has recently announced that it has accumulated billions of rupees that it hasn’t yet found a use for. Also, the US and its allies have stepped up the enforcement of sanctions creating difficulties for buyers of Russian oil and idling many tankers used in the transport of Russian oil,” it added.
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