Energy: India largest consumer of Russian oil for 3rd year; OPEC imports slip
New Delhi: India has become the biggest consumer of Russian oil for the third year, 2024-25, straight as the South Asian nation’s imports from OPEC countries hit a record low.
The share of OPEC oil fell to a record low in FY25 as refiners continued to import cheaper oil from Russia, the top oil supplier to India for the third year straight, data from trade and industry sources showed.
India has been importing oil from Russia at discounted prices since the Ukraine-Russia war, after the West imposed sanctions on Russia.
New Delhi imported 4.88 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in FY25, showing a significant growth of 5 percent over the previous year.
The percentage of oil imports from Russia rose to 36 percent, while the share of OPEC declined slightly to 48.5 percent, data showed.
Iraq and Saudi Arabia continued to be the second and third biggest sources of crude for India.
India’s oil imports from Saudi Arabia diminished due to official higher selling prices set by the state-owned Saudi Aramco, the industry sources stated.
March 2025 witnessed growth of 11 percent in India’s imports of Russian oil as compared to February, the highest in 5 months, data showed. India imported 5.3 million bpd of oil in March, up 1.3 percent from the previous month, the data showed.
The U.S. was the fourth largest oil supplier to India during the month.
(Subham Singh)
