News Highlights:
Russia remains India’s top oil supplier for the second month in a row in November, surpassing traditional sellers Iraq and Saudi Arabia, according to data from energy cargo tracker Vortexa.
Vortexa Data on India’s Import:
- Current scenario of oil Import from Russia
- Russia, which made up for just 0.2% of all oil imported by India in the year to March 31, 2022, supplied 9,09,403 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to India in November.
- It now makes up for more than a fifth of India’s oil supplies.
- Oil import from other Countries:
- India imported 8,61,461 bpd of oil from Iraq in November
- 5,70,922 bpd from Saudi Arabia.
- The United States was India’s fourth largest supplier at 4,05,525 bpd.
- Increased Russian import:
- India imported just 36,255 barrels per day of crude oil from Russia in December 2021, compared to 1.05 million bpd from Iraq and 9,52,625 bpd from Saudi Arabia.
- As the Ukraine war broke there were no imports from Russia in the following two months, but India resumed Import in March
- India imported 68,600 bpd of Russian oil in March, while it increased to 2,66,617 bpd in the following month and peaked at 9,42,694 bpd in June.
- In June, Iraq was India’s top supplier with 1.04 million bpd of oil. Russia, in that month, became India’s second-biggest supplier.
- Imports dipped marginally in the following two months. They stood at 8,76,396 bpd in September before rising to a record 9,35,556 bpd in October.
India’s total oil Import:
- India is the world’s third-largest oil consumer at 5.5 million barrels a day, behind the US and China.
- The oil demand is growing at 3-4% a year in the country.
- By this estimate, in a decade, India could be consuming about 7 million barrels a day.
- India imports 85% of its oil from about 40 countries, the bulk coming from the Middle East and the US.
- From Russia, India imports 2% of its supplies, including oil which it converts to petroleum products after refining.
Russia’s Energy Exports:
- Largest Oil Producer:
- Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer, trailing only Saudi Arabia and the United States.
- In January 2022, Russia’s total oil production was 11.3 million barrels per day (mb/d), of which 10 mb/d was crude oil, according to the Paris-based intergovernmental International Energy Agency (IEA).
- World’s Largest Exporter of Crude and Oil Products:
- Russia is the world’s largest exporter of crude and oil products, having shipped 7.8 mb/d in December 2021, and the second largest supplier of crude to the world with only Saudi Arabia exporting more crude than it.
- Major Exporter of Natural Gas:
- Russia is also a major exporter of natural gas and supplied almost a third, or 32%, of the gas consumed in Europe (and the U.K.) in 2021.
- The revenue it made from oil and gas sales in 2021 accounted for 36% of Russia’s total revenue of 25.29 trillion rubles last year.
Conclusion:
- The Indian government has been vehemently defending its trade with Russia, saying it has to source oil from where it is the cheapest.
- The imports in November were made ahead of a price cap agreed by the EU on Russian seaborne oil.
- The government has indicated that oil companies will continue to buy oil from Russia outside the price cap.
Pic Courtesy: The Hindu
Content Source: The Hindu