India imported more Russian crude oil than ever in January, shows data

India imported between 1.27 to 1.42 million barrels of Russian crude per day, which made up 28% of India's supplies in January, the highest ever

Russia supplied record volumes of crude oil to India in January, led by substantial discounts, which countered fresh sanctions by Europe and the US on exports of fuel by Moscow.

According to London-based market intelligence firm Vortexa, exports of seaborne crude from Russia to India totalled 1.27 million barrels a day (b/d) as of January 31. While according to Paris-based data intelligence company kPler, this number was 1.42 million b/d.

That compares to 1.19 million b/d in December, when the EU and the US announced a ban on crude and product exports by Russia.

Iraq supplied 918,000 b/d in December, and Saudi Arabia shipped 722,000 b/d, according to kPler. The US shipped 494,000 b/d, and the UAE supplied 363,000 b/d, much lower than volumes supplied prior to the Ukraine war.

State-run refiners led by IOC and private sector refiners shared Russian supplies, with Reliance Industries and Russian Rosneft-owned Nayara sourcing a combined 570,000 barrels a day from Russia. State refiners bought the rest. Private refiners bought over a quarter of their total imports of 2.1 million b/d from Russia, kPler said.

Russian supplies made up around 28 per cent of India's supplies in January this year, the highest ever, compared to 1 per cent last year, according to data from Vortexa and Indian customs data.

Vortexa and kPler track shipping movements to find where Russian supplies go. Overall, India imported between 4.6 million b/d and 4.8 million b/d of crude in January.

"I think India will remain a long-run destination for Russian oil moving forward," said Reid I'Anson, an analyst at kPler. "Even with the end of the conflict, which appears unlikely any time soon, new trade patterns have emerged that could be hard to switch back, especially as Western policymakers look at Russia with newfound suspicions."

Indian refiners, while depending on west Asia for term contracts, are seeking the cheapest supplies, wherever they may be, a senior official from a state-run refiner said. And all roads to secure oil lead to Russia -- because even after paying high freight costs and insurance, Indian refiners derive as much as $10 a barrel in yields from Russian oil compared to competing crudes. Russian Urals is comparable to Arab medium grades despite higher sulphur in the oil.

Russia's sizeable discounts on Urals grade have helped evade new sanctions announced by western powers. Urals is trading at a $32 a barrel discount to European crude benchmark Brent, traders said. Brent is trading at $87 a barrel. At $57 a barrel, Urals trades below the $60-a-barrel price ceiling, a cap prescribed by the US and Europe for the sanctions to kick in. Buyers who pay over $60 a barrel for Russian oil will not be allowed to use western flagged carriers and insurance.