India's imports of crude oil from Russia declined 20 per cent month-on-month in April to 1.57 million barrels per day, easing from the sharp surge recorded in March. The spike in March had been driven by the availability of floating cargoes during the Iran conflict, along with a temporary waiver on US sanctions. This waiver has been extended for now.
Shift in Refiner Participation
Nearly all Indian refiners, except Numaligarh Refinery, are now importing Russian crude. This marks a significant shift from January, when only three refiners - Indian Oil, Nayara Energy and BPCL - were purchasing Russian oil after US sanctions on key Russian exporters had discouraged many buyers. Reliance resumed its Russian crude imports in February.
Reasons for Decline in April
April volumes were affected by loading disruptions at a major Russian export terminal following a Ukrainian attack. Additionally, lower February loadings, caused by US sanctions that had curtailed Indian purchases, impacted subsequent arrivals.
Key Importers in April
Indian Oil Corporation remained the largest importer of Russian crude in both March and April. Between April 1 and April 26, the company imported an average of 670,000 barrels per day, accounting for roughly 42 per cent of India’s total Russian crude purchases. This was about two-and-a-half times the volume imported by Reliance Industries, which averaged 263,000 barrels per day, according to Kpler data. In March, Indian Oil had imported 589,000 barrels per day.
- Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited: 136,000 barrels per day
- Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited: 83,000 barrels per day
- Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited: 68,000 barrels per day
- HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited: 66,000 barrels per day
- Nayara Energy: 28,000 barrels per day
The buyers of an additional 262,000 barrels per day could not be immediately identified. Nayara Energy’s imports dropped sharply from 315,000 barrels per day in March, largely because the Rosneft-backed refiner began a 35-day maintenance shutdown on April 9.
Impact of Strait of Hormuz Closure
According to Nikhil Dubey, Senior Research Analyst at Kpler, the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz in March prompted Indian refiners to turn to readily available floating Russian cargoes in the Indian Ocean and other regions to offset supply disruptions from the Gulf. This led to a significant jump in imports during that month.
India imported nearly 2 million barrels per day of Russian crude in March, substantially higher than the 1.3 million barrels per day of India-bound cargoes loaded from Russian ports in February. The higher March arrivals were supported by floating supplies. Since Russian shipments generally take around a month to reach India, lower February loadings had an impact on subsequent arrivals.
Loading Disruptions
Russian crude loadings in March were estimated at around 1.5 million barrels per day, which translated into similar arrival volumes at Indian ports in April, as most of the previously available floating cargoes had already been absorbed. Dubey also noted that Ukrainian attacks on a Russian Baltic Sea terminal in March disrupted loading operations.
