India's Russian oil imports to hit record high in June, data shows

NEW DELHI: India's Russian oil imports surged to a record high in June, ship tracking data from LSEG and Kpler showed, as refiners snapped up Russian barrels to mitigate the impact of the ‌Strait of ⁠Hormuz ⁠closure on other sources of supply.

Indian refiners received about 2.70 million bpd of oil from Russia this month, preliminary data from Kpler and LSEG showed.

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India's Russian oil imports in May were 2.13 million bpd, according ⁠to Kpler, ‌while LSEG pegged May imports at 1.95 million bpd.

Russian oil has been ⁠dominating India's crude diet since 2022-23 as refiners turned to barrels sold at a discount after some European customers shunned purchases from Moscow in retaliation for its war on Ukraine.

Total crude imports by the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer ‌were nearly flat at 4.9 million barrels per day, the Kpler data showed, with Russia as ⁠the largest supplier.

Russian oil accounted for more than half of India's overall imports, up from 36.5% in May, the data showed.

India has been gorging on Russian oil to make up for the shortfall of supplies from the Middle East.