Russia becomes India’s second-largest oil supplier

Data from trade sources showed that Russia became India’s second-largest supplier of oil in May, pushing Saudi Arabia to third place, with Iraq remaining its largest supplier.

The data indicated that Indian refineries received in May about 819,000 barrels per day of Russian oil, the highest level so far from any previous month, compared to about 27,700 barrels per day in April.

Western sanctions imposed on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine prompted many oil importers to stop trading with it, which pushed the prices of Russian crude in spot transactions to drop significantly compared to other crudes.

This provided an opportunity for Indian refiners, which had rarely used Russian oil due to high shipping costs, to snap up cheap crude deals.