New Delhi. US President Donald Trump had recently appeared on many international forums and patted himself on the back that just because of his words, India had stopped buying Russian oil. They had even banned the two biggest companies of Russia, but now that the figures have come out, the whole truth has also been revealed. The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) in its recent report refuted all these claims of Trump and revealed that India and China are buying almost all of Russia’s oil.
It has been reported in the report that India’s crude oil import from Russia has increased by 4 percent in November and reached the highest level in 5 months. During this period, India has purchased oil worth 2.6 billion euros from Russia. A large quantity of fuel refined from this oil was exported to Australia. Europe’s research institute Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air said that in the case of Russian crude oil, India was the second largest buyer after China in November.
How much oil did Russia buy out of its total exports?
Before this, in the month of October, India had purchased crude oil worth 2.5 billion euros from Russia. In November, 47 percent of Russia’s total crude oil exports went to China, 38 percent to India, 6 percent to Turkey and 6 percent to the European Union. CREA said India’s crude oil imports from Russia increased by four percent compared to October while the total import volume remained almost stable. This is the highest purchase in the last five months.
India will buy more oil in December
The organization estimates that this purchase may increase in December also, because some oil carriers had departed before the US sanctions on Russian oil came into force. On October 22, America had imposed sanctions on Russia’s big oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil. This restriction was imposed with the intention of limiting Russia’s funding supply for the Ukraine war. After these sanctions, Reliance Industries, HPCL, HPCL-Mittal Energy and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited have temporarily stopped the import of Russian oil.
Government companies are buying oil
Despite US sanctions, public sector companies like Indian Oil Corporation still continue to buy from non-sanctioned Russian suppliers. CREA said that while there was a slight decline in imports of private oil companies in November, state oil companies increased the purchase of Russian crude oil by 22 percent. Meanwhile, Russia has further increased the discount on crude oil exported to India. India, the world’s third largest oil importer, became the largest customer to buy oil from Russia at concessional rates after the Ukraine war started in 2022. The share of Russian oil imports, which was once less than one percent, increased to almost 40 percent of India’s total oil imports.
Russia’s contribution to India’s total imports
Despite a partial decline in Russian oil purchases, Russia contributed 35 percent of India’s total crude oil supply in the month of November. Fuels like petrol and diesel made by refining this crude oil are also exported for domestic use. CREA said that in November, six refineries in India and Turkey exported refined fuel worth 807 million euros. Of these, 465 million euros were sent to the European Union, 110 million euros to America, 51 million euros to Britain, 150 million euros to Australia and 310 million euros to Canada.
India’s exports also increased
The report said that of these, about 301 million euros worth of refined oil products were made from Russian crude oil. CREA said exports to Australia increased by 69 percent in November, which were entirely sent from the Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat. Canada also received a consignment of fuel made from Russian oil for the first time after 8 months. The European Union has imposed a ban on fuel made from Russian crude oil, while Australia, Canada and the United States have not yet imposed such a ban.
