Russia cut the Middle East and OPEC share in Indian oil market

Russia became the largest oil supplier to India during the fiscal year 2023-2024 for the second year in a row, reducing the market share of producing countries in the Middle East and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to unprecedented low levels.

According to Reuters, India depends on the oil that Russia sells at a reduced price after Western countries refrained from buying it, and thus Russia has now become the primary supplier to the third largest oil importer in the world.

Data show that Russian oil constituted about 35% of India’s total crude imports, which amounted to 4.7 million barrels per day in the fiscal year ending on March 31, compared to about 22% a year ago.

The data revealed that India imported 1.64 million barrels per day of Russian oil in the fiscal year 2023-2024, an increase of about 57% over the previous year.

According to the data, this raised the share of oil from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, in India’s imports to 39 per cent in 2023-24 from 26 per cent a year ago. In contrast, the share of Middle Eastern oil in Indian imports fell to 46 percent, an all-time low of 55 percent.

According to the data, India imported equal quantities of oil from OPEC and non-OPEC member countries for the first time in 2023-24.