India's Russian oil binge drags down OPEC's share to lowest in 2022
Russia became the third-largest oil supplier to India in lest year, making up about 15 Percent of total purchases, dragging down OPEC's share to the lowest in more than a decade, data obtained from industry sources show.
Refiners in India, the world's third-biggest oil consumer and importer, have been gorging on Russian oil sold at a discount after some Western companies shunned buying from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine February 2022.
In 2021, Moscow was at the 17th spot, supplying about 1% of India's overall imports.
Previous month India's oil imports from Russia surged to an all-time high of 1.25 million barrels per day, about a quarter of overall 4.9 million barrels per day purchase, the data showed.
India's December oil imports were the highest in seven months as refiners were drawn to Russian oil due to the deeper discounts offered ahead of a December 5 embargo by Europe and a price cap by the European Union and G7 nations to cut Moscow's oil revenue.
Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), mainly from the Middle East and Africa, saw their share in India's crude imports shrinking to 64.5 Percent in 2022, from a peak of 87 Percent in 2008, analysis of the data since 2006 showed.
Still, Iraq and Saudi Arabia remained India's top two suppliers previous year.
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