India, the world’s third-largest oil consumer and importer, bought crude oil worth $2.8 billion from Russia in July. In this respect, India is second only to China, which remains the largest importer of Russian oil. According to a report, Russia has emerged as the largest supplier of crude oil to India. This oil is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries. Russian oil was available at a discount after some European countries refrained from buying from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022.
Crude oil imports from Russia were less than one percent of total imported oil before the Ukraine war. It has now increased to about 40 percent of India’s total oil purchases.
The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in a report that China bought 47 percent of Russia’s crude oil exports, followed by India (37 percent), the European Union (seven percent) and Turkey (six percent). Not just oil, China and India have also bought coal from Russia.
According to the report, “China bought 45 percent of Russia’s total coal exports from December 5, 2022 to the end of July, 2024, followed by India (18 percent). Turkey (10 percent), South Korea (10 percent) and Taiwan (five percent) are the top five buyers.”
According to data from real-time energy cargo tracking firm Vortexa, Russia’s share in India’s crude oil imports rose to 42 per cent during the month of June. A month before that, i.e. in May 2024, Russia’s share was 37 per cent. Let us tell you that in February 2022, Western countries including the US had imposed sanctions on Russia, which started a war with Ukraine, and also banned the purchase of crude oil from it, but India has imported oil from Russia on a large scale by making diplomatic moves in this disaster.
