Russia becomes India's top oil supplier in Oct

Russia has become India's top oil supplier in October, surpassing traditional sellers Saudi Arabia and Iraq, according to data from energy cargo tracker Vortexa.

Russia, which made up for just 0.2 per cent of all oil imported by India in the year to March 31, 2022, supplied 935,556 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to India in October -- the highest ever.

It now makes up for 22 per cent of India's total crude imports, ahead of Iraq's 20.5 per cent and Saudi Arabia's 16 per cent.

India's appetite for Russian oil swelled ever since it started trading on discount as the West shunned it to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

According to Vortexa, an energy intelligence firm, India imported just 36,255 barrels per day of crude oil from Russia in December 2021 as compared to 1.05 million bpd from Iraq and 952,625 bpd from Saudi Arabia.

There were no imports from Russia in the following two months but they resumed in March, soon after the Ukraine war broke out in late February.

India imported 68,600 bpd of Russian oil in March while it increased to 266,617 bpd in the following month and peaked to 942,694 bpd in June. But in June, Iraq was India's top supplier with 1.04 million bpd of oil. Russia in that month became India's second biggest supplier.