India’s oil imports from the Middle East fell to a 22 years low as the world’s third largest importer of crude ramp up purchases from Russia, according to a news report by Reuters.
Following the escalation of Russia-Ukraine conflict, India has been continuously increasing import of crude from the Europe’s largest energy producer.
Russia rose to a fresh record high in April, further reducing the share of Middle Eastern and African grades to their lowest level in at least 22 years, the Reuters report said while quoting data from trade sources.
As per the report, Indian refiners in India are on a Russian oil-buying binge after some countries shunned purchases from Moscow over its conflict with Ukraine.
India’s oil imports from Iraq in April declined by 3.1% from the previous month to a 4-month low of 928,400 barrels per day (bpd), while imports from Saudi Arabia fell by 11% to 723,800 bpd, the least in five months, the data showed.
Lower purchases of oil from the Middle East dragged OPEC’s share of India oil imports to a record low of 46%, the data showed.
