WORLD
Cheaper Russian oil eats into OPEC’s share in Indian oil imports in FY25
- IBJ Bureau
- Apr 23, 2025
Share of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) oil in India’s imports fell to a record low in 2024-25 as refiners continued to gorge on cheaper oil from Russia. Russia has become the top oil supplier to New Delhi for the third straight year, data obtained from trade and industry sources show.
India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer, has been tapping Russian oil sold at a discount after Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine war.
The South Asian nation imported an average of 4.88 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in the financial year to March 2025, registering growth of 5 per cent over the oil imports in the previous year.
Import of Russian oil rose by 7.3 per cent to 1.76 million bpd, raising its share marginally to 36 per cent. OPEC’s share slipped slightly to 48.5 per cent, the data shows.
Russia is an ally of the OPEC but has eaten into the market of key OPEC producers from the Middle East.
Altered trade flows due to geopolitical tension and costlier shipments from some traditional suppliers have pushed India to diversify sources of crude oil and tap cheaper supplies from even far-flung areas such as Russia.
Iraq and Saudi Arabia were the second- and third-biggest sources of crude oil for India.
India’s oil imports from Saudi Arabia in 2024-25 plunged to the least in 14 years, while those from Iraq declined to a four-year low, data compiled by Reuters shows.
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