By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s rising imports of Russian oil hit a record high of about 1.95 million barrels per day (bpd) in May denting purchases from Iraq and Saudi Arabia fell, tanker data from trade and industry sources showed.
India, the world’s third biggest oil consumer and importer, buys more than 80% of its oil from overseas markets.
Its refiners have been gorging on Russian oil since the West imposed sanctions over Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
Russian oil accounted for about 40% of India’s crude imports in May, cutting imports from Iraq to a three-year low and from Saudi Arabia to their lowest since September 2021, an analysis of the data showed.
India imported 801,400 bpd of Iraqi oil in May, down about 13.7% from April, while supply from Saudi fell 15% to 616,100 bpd, the data show.
India’s overall May oil imports rose marginally from April to 4.8 million bpd, the data showed.
Its imports from Russia are expected to remain high, as its landed price remains far cheaper than Middle East crude.
In April the landed price of a tonne of oil from Russia was about $500, equivalent to $68.21/barrel using a conversion factor of 7.33, while that from Iraq cost $570 and from Saudi Arabia was $637.40, according to the government data. Price details for May arrival cargoes have not yet been updated.
Due to higher purchases of discounted Russian oil, the share of imports from the Middle East — traditionally its top source — fell to an all-time low of about 39% in May from 44% in April, the data showed.
OPEC’s share of India’s oil imports in May fell to a record low of 42.6% and averaged 44.3% in the first two months of this fiscal year, the data showed.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by Jason Neely)
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