At 25 million barrels of shipping in May, Russia has become the second largest oil supplier in India, sending Saudi Arabia to third place on the list led by Iraq above.
According to industrial data, Russian crude oil contributed about 16 percent of Indian oil imports in May.
The European Commission has become the latest to slap sanctions against Russian crude oil after the country declared a war on Ukraine in February. The step aims to build pressure on the Russian economy, which is very dependent on oil exports. Moscow was forced to record a discount against the crisis.
The decline in the demand for Russian ural oil also causes a decrease in place prices. India takes advantage of this situation and buys oil at a discount as high as $ 30 per barrel. It must be noted that Russian oil is previously imported in a much less amount because of high shipping costs. In April, India only imported 2,77,000 barrels from Russia but increased to 8.19,000 barrels a month later.
India is the third largest crude oil importer in the world. It imports about 85 percent of all oil needs. The Russian part in Indian oil imports jumped from 5 percent to more than 16 percent between April and May 2022.
The Indian government has repeatedly defended its decision to import oil from the country. The Ministry of Oil last month stated that “the purchase of energy from Russia remains very small compared to the total Indian consumption”.