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India’s Russian oil imports soften in August as refinery maintenance season weighs on demand
India’s crude oil imports from Russia—New Delhi’s largest source market for oil—cooled off sequentially in August from July’s near-record levels as oil demand evidently softened in the run-up to the refinery maintenance season, according to ship tracking data and industry watchers. Relatively lower availability of Russian oil for the export market was also a likely factor.
Oil market experts expect India’s oil imports—including from Russia—to be slightly subdued in September as well due to maintenance shutdowns at a few refineries, before recovering again in October as the affected refining capacity comes back on stream in the festival season, which is usually marked by high fuel demand.
India’s Russian oil imports declined 14.5 per cent—or by 0.31 million barrels per day (bpd)—sequentially in August to 1.80 million bpd, but still accounted for a whopping 39.9 per cent of the New Delhi’s total crude oil imports for the month, per provisional vessel tracking data from commodity market analytics firm Kpler. Notably, India’s overall oil imports for the month also declined by a similar volume—0.32 million bpd—to 4.52 million bpd.
Interestingly, Russia’s oil exports have also gone down by 350,000 bpd…So there is less Russian availability, lower Indian crude intake, and generally less movement (of oil),” said Viktor Katona, head of crude analysis at Kpler.
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