India buys record Russian crude again, imports hit 2.8 million bpd in July

India's imports of Russian crude hit a record for the second straight month in July.

Indian refiners imported 2.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude in July, accounting for about 55.5% of India's total crude imports of just over 5 million bpd, according to data compiled by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

The July intake was up about 2.1% from June in volume terms. It was also significantly higher than India's average Russian crude imports of about 1.8 million bpd in 2024.

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RUSSIAN CRUDE DOMINATES INDIA'S IMPORTS

India bought 5.5 billion euros worth of Russian crude in July, with crude accounting for 87% of its total Russian fossil fuel purchases.

CREA said India imported a total of 6.4 billion euros worth of Russian hydrocarbons during the month. Coal accounted for 512 million euros and oil products for 341 million euros.

India's reliance on Russian oil surged after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia supplied less than 100,000 bpd to India in 2021, about 2.5% of its crude imports. That rose to about 740,000 bpd in 2022 and nearly 1.8 million bpd in 2023.

Russia became India's biggest crude supplier in 2023, accounting for about 39% of its imports.

India has since become the second-largest buyer of Russian crude.

CREA estimates it accounted for 37% of Russia's crude oil exports during the period covered by its analysis, behind China's 50%.

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SMALLER PORTS DRIVE JULY SURGE

The increase in July was driven mainly by higher imports through smaller terminals rather than India's two biggest Russian-crude recipients, Jamnagar and Paradip.

Imports through HMEL Mundra rose 58% from June. Volumes received at Indian Oil's Vadinar SMPL terminal increased 35%, while imports through Mumbai rose 37%.

Imports through Jamnagar were unchanged from June. Paradip, meanwhile, saw volumes fall 22%.

The higher receipts at several other ports more than offset the decline at Paradip, allowing India's overall Russian crude intake to hit a record without an increase at its two largest receiving terminals.

INDIA'S ROLE GOES BEYOND BUYING RUSSIAN OIL

India's importance to the Russian oil trade extends beyond direct crude purchases.

Indian refineries that process Russian crude continue to export refined products to countries that have sanctioned Russia.

In July, refineries in India, Turkiye, Brunei and Georgia that use Russian crude exported 633 million euros worth of oil products to sanctioning countries, CREA said.

Of this, 214 million euros went to the European Union, 184 million euros to Australia and 234 million euros to the United States. CREA estimated that 284 million euros of these exports were refined from Russian crude.

Five cargoes from Indian refineries using Russian crude were unloaded at EU ports in July, despite the bloc's ban on imports of oil products made from Russian crude that came into effect on January 21.

Shipments to the US also originated from India's Jamnagar refinery. Russian crude accounted for about 35% of Jamnagar's feedstock in the three months through July, according to CREA.

The US received refined-product shipments from Jamnagar in July, along with cargoes from Turkiye's STAR refinery and Georgia's Kulevi refinery.

(With inputs from PTI)