India’s crude imports from Russia have fallen from the high seen in March, when refiners were prompted to increase purchases from Moscow as the US-Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted supplies from the Middle East.Russian crude oil imports into India declined 20 per cent month-on-month to 1.57 million barrels per day in April, down from a sharp increase recorded in March. The increase in March was due to the availability of floating cargo during the Iran conflict as well as a temporary relaxation of US sanctions. This exemption has been extended for the time being.Almost all Indian refiners, except Numaligarh Refinery, are now importing Russian crude. This marks a significant change from January, when only three refiners – namely Indian Oil, Nayara Energy and BPCL, were buying Russian oil after US sanctions on major Russian exporters discouraged many buyers. Reliance resumed imports of Russian crude in February.Read this also Iran War: Trump to ease sanctions or not – Why did India continue to buy Russian oil?
Why are they? Russian crude oil imports Down in April?
April volumes were hit by loading disruptions at a major Russian export terminal following the Ukrainian attack.Indian Oil Corporation remained the largest importer of Russian crude in both March and April. Between April 1 and April 26, the company imported an average of 670,000 barrels per day, about 42 percent of India’s total Russian crude purchases. This was almost two and a half times the volume imported by Reliance Industries, which averaged 263,000 barrels per day, according to Kpler data cited in the ET report. In March, Indian Oil imported 589,000 barrels per day.Other major buyers in April include Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd 136,000 bpd, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd 83,000 bpd, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd 68,000 bpd, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd 66,000 bpd and Nayara Energy 28,000 bpd. Buyers for the additional 262,000 barrels per day could not be immediately identified.Naira Energy imports fell sharply by 315,000 barrels per day in March, mainly because the Rosneft-backed refiner began a 35-day maintenance shutdown on April 9.According to Nikhil Dubey, senior research analyst at Kpler, the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz in March prompted Indian refiners to turn to readily available floating Russian cargoes in the Indian Ocean and other regions to offset supply disruptions from the Gulf. This led to a significant jump in imports during that month.India imported about 2 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil in March, significantly higher than the 1.3 million barrels per day of India-bound cargo loaded from Russian ports in February.Higher arrivals in March were supported by temporary supplies. Since Russian shipments typically take about a month to reach India, lower loading in February, caused by US sanctions that reduced Indian purchases, had an impact on subsequent arrivals.Russian crude oil loading in March was estimated at around 1.5 million barrels per day, which translated into similar amounts of arrivals at Indian ports in April, as most of the previously available floating cargo had already been absorbed.Dubey also said Ukrainian attacks on Russian Baltic Sea terminals in March disrupted loading operations.
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Should India continue importing crude oil from Russia despite sanctions?
