In 2024, India slightly increased oil imports from Russia, which retains the title of the country's main supplier for the second year in a row. But payments for raw materials have increased even more. The difference compared to last year was almost $ 6 billion. This was facilitated by a decrease in discounts, freight costs and higher world oil prices.
In January-July 2024, oil imports from Russia's exports to India increased by 4.6%, and the total amount of payments — by 26.7%. Such statistics are published by the Ministry of Trade and Industry of India.
According to him, for seven months of this year, Indian refineries received 388 million barrels of Russian oil and paid $ 31.56 billion for them. The difference from last year was almost $ 6 billion.
Due to the ban on the import of Russian oil to Europe, suppliers from Russia has redirected large volumes to Asia, where India has been competing with China in the procurement of raw materials since 2023. Russian companies sell oil to India at a discount, but it has never been large and has not exceeded $ 15 per barrel, and over the past year it has dropped to $ 3-$ 5.
According to the Indian department, the average price of Russian oil in January-July 2023 was $ 69.4 per barrel, and this year — $ 81.3. This price already includes transportation costs, including insurance.
Such a price difference is associated not only with a decrease in the discount and the cost of tanker freight. The price increase was influenced by higher world oil prices this year, on which the cost of Russian raw materials depends.
Only raw materials from Iraq were cheaper than Russian oil for India — $ 80.1. However, with a Middle Eastern country, Indian refineries have a shorter transport shoulder and, obviously, the cost of the oil itself was higher.
In addition to Russia, oil supplies to Iran were increased by the UAE (by 44%, to 85.5 million barrels) and Iraq (8.6%, to 221.8 million barrels). But imports from Saudi Arabia and the United States sank. If supplies from the kingdom fell by 14.8%, to 133.8 million barrels, then from the USA — by all 36.4%, to 33.8 million barrels.
"If the organization is not under sanctions, there is no doubt that I will buy from the cheapest supplier," Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Reuters at the GasTech conference in Houston this week.
As EADaily reported, according to the Ministry of Finance of Russia, in the first eight months of 2024, oil and gas revenues to the country's budget increased by more than 50% compared to 2023 - to 7.55 trillion rubles. This picture more than clearly demonstrates how Russian companies were able to recover revenues from oil exports after the shock months when, due to sanctions, they had to reorient oil flows to new markets and create new delivery logistics, including a fleet of tankers not controlled by Western countries.
On December 5, 2022, the European Union banned the import of Russian oil and, together with the G7 countries, set a ceiling on the price of raw materials from Russia for third countries at $60. Earlier, Western media reported that Russian companies are facing problems withdrawing funds from India, which Indian enterprises complain about in Russia.