After falling to 7-month low, India's crude oil imports from Russia gain in September

After falling to a seven-month low of 1.55 million barrels per day in August, India’s imports of Russian crude oil in September jumped 18.3 per cent to 1.83 million bpd. Also, India, the world’s third biggest oil importer and consumer, imported around around 916,690 bpd, 7.36 per cent more crude oil from Iraq in September compared to the previous month. As per reports, India’s import of crude oil from Russia and Iraq recovered last month most likely due to their price advantage over Saudi Arabian crude grades. The share of Russia and Iraq in India’s September oil imports stood around 43 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, while in August, Russia’s share was 35.4 per cent and Iraq’s was 19.5 per cent. Crude oil imports from Saudi Arabia fell 32.87 per cent month-on-month in September to around 556,185 bpd. Iraq was India’s biggest source of crude oil, followed by Saudi Arabia. However, after the war in Ukraine, Russia displaced Baghdad and Riyad to become New Delhi’s largest oil supplier, offering big discounts on its crudes. “Price competitiveness favours Russian crude and if the Indian refiners want to take term volumes from the Middle East, they seem to prefer Iraqi barrels as Basrah Medium continues to be some $2 per barrel cheaper than Arab Medium or Arab Light,” said Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at Kpler. Katona said India’s imports from Russia would move closer to 2 million bpd mark once refiners complete maintenance turnaround of units by end-October. Indian refiners mostly buy crude about two months ahead of processing. They mostly purchase Russian oil on the spot market, while largely relying on term contracts for middle eastern crude. With inputs from agencies