Russia biggest oil supplier to India for 2nd month running

Russia remained the top oil supplier to India in November, the second month in a row, ahead of Iraq and Saudi Arabia, according to energy cargo tracker Vortexa.

Russia supplied 909,400 barrels per day (bpd) of crude in November, making up 21% of the country's total imports of 4.29 million bpd, according to preliminary data gathered by Vortexa. It sent over 902,740 bpd of oil in October, which was the highest among all exporters to India, according to revised Vortexa data.

India's imports from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and Angola fell, while those from Canada and the US rose in November.


India's import of Russian crude was 38% higher than the European Union's import of seaborne Russian crude in November. China remained the biggest buyer of Russian seaborne crude, importing more than a million barrels per day in November.

Impact of Price Cap
"Russia will likely continue selling its crude to India and China outside of the G7 price cap under its own financial and insurance arrangements after the EU ban kicks in," said Serena Huang, an analyst at Vortexa. "But the lack of a large enough alternative fleet, in lieu of competition against Iran and Venezuela, is likely to limit Russia's seaborne crude exports, at least in the short-term."

The European Union, the G7 and Australia imposed a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil from Monday and barred their insurers, financers and shippers from supporting any deal struck above that price level. Ships loaded before Monday and unloaded by January 19 are exempt.

Until Monday, there had been no sanctions on Russian oil and payments channels had been free-flowing, helping India dramatically raise imports from Russia. Indian officials are confident that Moscow and the markets will not allow the price cap to hamper imports to India.

The US has said buying Russian oil is a "sovereign decision."

The aim of restrictions is to squeeze Russia's ability to pursue the war in Ukraine, US charge d'affaires to India Elizabeth Jones said last week. "It's appropriate for countries to take that into account, in terms of the oil purchases they make, but that's something that's a sovereign decision and has to be a sovereign decision," she had said. The UK and key European nations are also said to be supportive of this position.

India's oil imports from Iran dropped to zero three years ago after the US reimposed sanctions, threatening buyers with secondary sanctions. In the case of Russia, the sanctions are far less restrictive as they aim to reduce Russia's oil revenue by keeping prices low but do not intend to cut volumes.