In April, Russia's share in Indian crude oil imports surged to nearly 40%, up from 30% in March, nearing its previous peak of 42% in July. This increase was driven by higher global oil prices, prompting Indian refiners to boost their intake of discounted Russian barrels to mitigate their average crude purchase costs.
According to energy cargo tracker Vortexa, Indian refiners imported 1.78 million barrels per day (mb/d) of crude oil from Russia in April, marking a 19% increase from March. This volume surpassed both China's imports of 1.27 mb/d and Europe's 396,000 barrels per day (bp/d) of seaborne Russian crude for the same month.
In April, Russia outpaced India's next three top suppliers - Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE - combined in terms of crude oil imports. However, India's overall crude imports experienced an 8% decline month-on-month to 4.5 mb/d in April. Imports from Iraq, the second-largest supplier, plummeted by 31% to 776,000 barrels per day (bp/d), while those from Saudi Arabia dipped by 6% to 681,000 bp/d. Additionally, imports from the UAE dropped by 40%, and those from the US decreased by 15%.
Iraq's share in Indian imports fell to 17% in April from 23% in March, while the UAE's declined to 6% from 9%. Notably, Russia's share in April exceeded its average share of 35% throughout 2023-24.
Serena Huang, an analyst at Vortexa, attributed the surge in India's imports of Russian crude in April to higher Russian exports in February and March, coupled with reduced imports by Chinese refiners, freeing up more volumes for Indian refiners.
The industry executive noted that Indian refiners are increasingly turning to Russian oil due to the current high global oil prices, which are impacting their profitability. Indian Oil, the nation's top refiner, reported a 52% drop in its fourth-quarter profit, underscoring the challenges posed by elevated oil prices on refiners' margins.
