AsianOil: Russia to overtake Middle East in April as India’s biggest supplier of crude imports

Russia is set to overtake India’s traditional suppliers of crude oil from the Middle East to become the biggest supplier as imports rise to record levels in April.

India, one of the world's largest importers of crude oil, is set to import around 12mn barrels of crude oil from Russia this month, which is a significant increase on its previous imports from this source.

Indian oil imports have risen from around 1.5mn barrels per day earlier this year to an expected 1.94mn bpd from Russia in April, and according to a more optimistic forecast could be as much as 2.39mn bpd, says Kpler.

That compares with 1.92mn bpd imports expected in April from the Middle East. According to Refinitiv Forecasts that would be the first time Russia has overtaken the Middle East to become India’s largest supplier of crude.

Iraq remains the single most important supplier from the Middle East, sending 840,000 bpd, followed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with 640,000 bpd.

Imports from Russia have risen from next to nothing; prior to the war in Ukraine, India imported only 44,500 bpd in the year to February 2021.

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