Russia may have become India's biggest crude supplier in June

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 1

Russia may have become India’s biggest crude supplier in the month of June while the amount of crude imported from the US may have shrunk, according to shipment tracking agencies.

This is a huge turnaround in India’s crude import basket as before the Ukraine conflict, Russian crude barely accounted for three per cent of total imports.

The step will be of benefit to both the countries. Russia gets a huge market for its oil, the biggest after China, while India is getting heavily discounted crude that is enabling its refiners to make windfall profits in their exports.

This may be the reason why the Centre on Thursday night notified special additional excise duty on exports of diesel, petrol and Aviation Turbine Fuel.

India’s imports of Russian crude began skyrocketing from March when it imported 30 lakh barrels. In the following month, the figure had increased to 72 lakh barrels. In May, it had risen to 240 lakh and in June, it is estimated to be well over 300 lakh barrels.

Crude from Basra has taken a hit by an estimated 150 lakh barrels but supplies from another major source -- Saudi Arabia -- have remained stable at about 200 lakh barrels.

A tracking agency Vortexa claims that Russia's supply was at an average of 11.6 lakh barrels in June while from Iraq, it was 11.3 lakh barrels. This figure is disputed by other tracking agencies which feel Iraq may still be marginally ahead of Russia.

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