Since the beginning of the war, India has been stepping up its buying of Russian crude oil thereby resulting in the reduction of OPEC share in its crude imports. At present Russia is the third largest oil supplier to India. Only Saudi Arabia and Iraq are ahead of Russia on the list of oil suppliers to India. The share of OPEC countries in India’s crude imports has reached its lowest in more than a decade. The supply from Russia reached 15 percent of India’s crude oil imports. It increased from one percent in 2021. Due to the sudden rise in percentage, the Russian position in the list of oil suppliers to India improved from 17 to three. The supply of Russian oil is increasing continuously due to the USD 10 discount to India.
Reliance and Nayara have emerged as the biggest buyers of Russian oil.
Russia started offering the discount after the west imposed sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine. In the future too, India’s oil import from Russia is likely to rise due to deep discounts. Reliance and Nayara have emerged as the biggest buyers of Russian oil. The products of Indian refineries are being exported to the United States of America. Earlier, the USA used to buy virgin gas oil (VGO) from Russia. Now, due to the sanctions, it cannot directly buy it from Russia and instead, buy it from Indian refineries. Recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country’s oil production increased by 2 percent over the past year despite Western sanctions. Putin also noted that while natural gas production decreased by 11.8 percent, global gas prices have grown significantly following the actions of Western countries
