By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s crude oil imports from Russia rose by 11.7% to about 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, accounting for about two-fifths of the South Asian nation’s overall crude imports in the month, tanker data obtained from industry sources showed.
Overall, refiners in India imported a total of 4.7 million bpd of crude oil in September, marginally higher than in August and about 8.5% more than the same month a year ago, the data showed.
The refiners have invested billions of dollars in plant upgrades, allowing them to process more crude grades, in an effort to reduce costs.
India, the world’s third largest oil importer and consumer, has emerged as the top buyer of discounted Russian seaborne oil after Western nations stopped buying from Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.
Crude from the Commonwealth of Independent States, comprising Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, accounted for about 43% of India’s overall imports, up from 38.5% in August, the data showed.
During April-September, the first six months of the fiscal year to March 2025, India’s imports of Russian oil rose 9.1% to 1.91 million bpd, the data showed.
Russia remained India’s top oil supplier in September, followed by Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Russian oil imports were more than double Iraq’s 867,600 bpd, the data showed.
India also resumed its imports of Venezuelan oil in September after a gap of two months, with private refiner Reliance Industries Ltd receiving a cargo, the data showed.
The market share accounted for by producers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), mainly from the Middle East and Africa, declined marginally between April and September from the same period a year ago, a Reuters analysis of the data showed.
Imports from the Middle East fell to about a 41.6% share in April-September from 43.8% a year earlier, the data showed. Indian refiners mostly buy Middle Eastern oil under annual contracts with producers in the region.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Florence Tan, Kirsten Donovan)
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