Controversy over India's decision to buy Russian crude is overblown

Because the economics and logistics don't work out for Indian refiners to accept larger volumes

Much is being made of India’s crude oil imports from Russia. These imports are merely opportunistic buys because of the availability of Urals crude, and some discounts. Otherwise, Russian crude is bad economics for Indian refiners. The distances to transport it are huge, shipping times long, freight is expensive and Russia, even in peacetime, does not have enough oil to offer India.

It is true that volumes have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine. An average of 440,000 barrels per day of crude left Russia for Indian ports since the war began in late February compared with just 33,000 barrels a