The volume of oil imports to India from the Russian Federation in August decreased by 18.3% compared to the previous month. The reason for this is a decrease in processing volumes at some oil refineries.
Points of attention
- The volume of Russian oil imports to India decreased by 18.3% in August compared to the previous month due to a decrease in refining capacity.
- China has increased its purchases of Russian oil, regaining the title of Moscow's largest customer.
- The share of Russian oil in India's imports fell to 36% in August, after five months of growth, setting a new supply balance.
- In July, India became the largest importer of Russian oil, but in August its share fell due to lower volumes.
- Russia has restored the volume of exports of oil products, in particular, the supply of fuel oil jumped to the highest level for this year.
Imports of Russian oil to India fell by almost 20%
As noted, in August, the volume of Russian oil supplies to India decreased by 18.3%, reaching about 1.7 million barrels per day, which is due to a decrease in processing capacity at some oil refineries.
At the same time, China increased its purchases of Russian oil, regaining the title of Moscow's largest customer. In July, India became the largest importer of Russian oil for the first time.
The share of Russian oil in India's imports fell to 36% in August after five months of growth, compared to 44% in July.
Despite this, Russia remained the main supplier of oil to India in August, ahead of Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Total oil imports by India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, fell 1% in August to 4.7 million barrels per day.
Crude supplies from Saudi Arabia to India fell to their lowest level since July 2023 at around 498,200 barrels per day.
Indian refiners also imported about 138,000 barrels per day from Canada and 254,000 barrels per day from the United States.
A drop in Russian oil supplies pushed OPEC's share of India's total imports to a four-month high in August, thanks to increased purchases of Iraqi oil.
However, in the first five months of the fiscal year, which began in April, the share of raw materials from OPEC in India's imports fell to a historic low.
The share of oil from the Middle East in India's imports rose to 44.6% in August from 40.3% in July, although it fell to 44% in the April-August period from 46% in the same period last year.
Russia has resumed exports of oil products
In particular, supplies of fuel oil jumped to the highest level for this year.
During the first 15 days of this month, sea exports of Russian oil products amounted to approximately 2.2 million barrels per day. This is almost 10% more, if compared with the average daily indicator in August.
Export of diesel fuel and gas oil amounted to about 807,000 barrels per day (+10%). At the same time, the supply of fuel oil jumped by 13% to 749,000 barrels.
Last month, supplies fell to a four-month low due to reduced exports of fuel oil and diesel fuel, which accounted for 70% of all oil product supplies from the Russian Federation.
The current growth is associated with the acceleration of processing rates. Previously, they decreased somewhat due to attacks by Ukrainian UAVs.
