India’s purchases of Russian crude have increased over sixfold in the first nine months of this year, according to data compiled exclusively for TradeWinds.
Between January and September, India imported 20m tonnes of crude oil from Russia versus the 3.3m tonnes in the corresponding period last year, said Banchero Costa.
“This year Russia has accounted for 12% of India’s total crude imports against just 2% of imports last year, making it the third largest exporter to India after Iraq and Saudi Arabia,” said Ralph Leszczynski, Banchero Costa’s Singapore-based head of research.
He told TradeWinds that more than half of the Russian exports to India are loaded in the Baltic Sea at the ports of Primorsk or Ust Luga. About 10% is loaded as far away as Murmansk in the Arctic Region of Russia or from Kozmino near Vladivostock, with most of the rest coming from Novorossyisk in the Black Sea.
“For tonne-miles this is very positive, especially for suezmaxes and aframaxes as Russian oil still needs to be sent on such smaller tonnage even on such long routes as Baltic Sea to India, given existing draft and port infrastructure limitations,” said Leszczynski.
“That’s why we have seen the spot suezmax rates at over $60,000 per day, higher than for VLCCs.”
Despite India’s increased pivot towards Russian crude, its imports from most Opec countries are not going down by any noticeable amount.
Between January and September this year, India imported 40.1m tonnes of crude from Iraq, up 12.7% compared to the same period of last year. The figure represents a record high.
Over the same period, India’s imports of crude from Saudi Arabia were rose to 31.1m tonnes, which was also a record and represented a 36.5% increase compared to a year earlier, according to Leszczynski.
In the first nine months of this year, India imported 17.1m tonnes of crude from the United Arab Emirates, up 12.3% from the same period of 2021. The figure also was a record high.
Overall, 62% of India’s imports still come from the Middle East. Iraq made up 24% of the imports, Saudi Arabia accounted for 19% and the United Arab Emirates shipped 17%, according to Leszczynski.
“Russian crude, which used to go mostly to Western Europe, Japan and South Korea, is being increasingly diverted to India and China, whilst Japan and South Korea are relying more on Saudi Arabia, and Europe gets more dependent on the US,” he added.
