India imported a record volume of crude from Russia in January, touching about 28 percent of its total imports, despite the price cap put by the West on Russian oil.
India received 1.27 million barrels a day (mbd) of Russian crude in January, 6 percent more than in December, the Economic Times reported, quoting energy cargo tracker Vortexa.
China received 0.98 mbd of seaborne Russian crude and Europe 0.27 mbd last month.
Russia remained the top crude supplier to India for the fourth month in a row in January, improving its market share from 26 percent in December.
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE also expanded their share in a month by one percentage point each to 20 percent, 17 percent, and 8 percent, respectively.
The share of the US rose from 7 to 9 percent, while that of Africa fell from 9 to 6 percent in January.
Little impact of West’s price cap on Russian crude
Russian oil trade has carried on far more smoothly than was expected ahead of the West’s imposition of the price cap on December 5.
The Russian Urals are currently trading below the price cap, and the availability of sufficient tonnage supply from existing and incumbent vessel owners have facilitated continued exports of Russian crude so far, said Serena Huang, analyst at Vortexa.
The US and its allies have barred their shippers, insurers and financiers from touching any Russian cargo purchased at more than $60 a barrel.
But with the Urals staying below the cap in December and January, the Western restrictions linked to the cap just did not trigger.
The Urals comprise 80 percent of India’s import of Russian crude.
Espo and Sokol, the other two grades that made up 8 percent of India’s Russian imports, are currently trading around $74-78 per barrel.
For the transport of such crude, which is trading above the price cap, Russia has been using its own fleet of ships and those from friendly countries.
India’s overall crude imports fell 6 percent over the previous month to 4.6 mbd in January. Private sector refiners such as RIL and Russia-backed Nayara Energy accounted for 47 percent of the total Russian crude imports in January.
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