New Delhi: India’s crude oil imports from Russia have increased more than 50 times since April and its share in total imported oil has increased to 10 per cent, a senior government official said.
Russia’s share in the oil imported by India before the Ukraine-Russia war was only 0.2 per cent.
“Russia accounts for 10 per cent of India’s oil imports in April. It is now one of the top 10 suppliers.” 40 per cent of Russian oil has been bought by private companies – Reliance Industries and Naira Energy.
Last month, Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as India’s second-largest oil supplier. Russia has offered crude oil to India with huge discounts. Indian refineries bought about 25 million barrels of Russian oil in May.
According to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell of the Indian Oil Ministry, the total consumption of fuel in the country last month was 1.82 million tonnes. It has to increase instead of decrease as in the financial year 2021-22, India had imported 212 million tonnes of crude oil.
India imports about 85 per cent of its crude oil needs. India is the world’s third largest importer of petroleum. India imports about 85 per cent of its crude oil requirement from other countries.