Russia has become India’s top oil supplier, edging past the traditionally dominant suppliers Saudi Arabia and Iraq, according to the energy cargo tracker Vortexa.
Russia supplied 946,000 barrels per day of crude to India in October, the highest ever in a month. It accounted for 22% of India’s total crude imports, ahead of Iraq’s 20.5% and Saudi Arabia’s 16%. Compared to September, overall crude import went up 5% in October and that from Russia rose 8%, according to Vortexa, an energy intelligence firm that has offices in Singapore and London and tracks oil and gas tankers across the globe, providing freight and inventories analytics.
For the first time, India imported more seaborne Russian crude than the European Union – the volumes were 34% higher than the EU’s. With imports of 1 million barrels per day in October, Chinaremained the largest buyer of Russian seaborne crude.
India also imported about 106,000 barrels per day of fuel oil from Russia in October, a new high.