India boosts Middle East oil imports to counter falling Russian supplies

Bloomberg reported this.

As the report highlighted, this marks a shift in the structure of oil procurement as traders adapt to global market dynamics.

"We are short of three, four Russian cargoes for January-loading and February-delivery,Є Bharat Petroleum Corp. Finance Director Vetsa Ramakrishna Gupta said.

To tackle this, the company has issued tenders to source alternative oil types from Iraq, the UAE, and other countries.

Gupta noted that while Middle Eastern oil is priced $2 per barrel higher than Russian Urals, there is no global shortage of oil. He also clarified that Bharat Petroleum doesn’t plan to increase supplies under annual deals with national oil companies next month.

Data from analytics firm Kpler shows that India’s imports of Russian oil have dropped to 1.47 million barrels per day — the lowest level since December last year.

According to the report, India emerged as a major market for Russian oil after the Ukraine war began in 2022, significantly increasing imports, which benefited its economy.

However, Russian oil supplies have declined in recent weeks due to tougher Western sanctions targeting Russia’s shadow fleet. Additionally, Russian refineries have ramped up processing, and Moscow is under pressure to adhere to OPEC+ production quotas.

• Russia’s state-owned Rosneft has agreed to supply nearly 500,000 barrels of oil per day to Indian private refinery Reliance under the largest-ever energy deal between the two nations.