Chinese refiners are ramping up purchases of Russia’s Urals crude–the mainstay of India’s Russian oil imports–leading to competition between the two Asian neighbours, which, among other factors, could result in New Delhi’s oil imports from Moscow peaking as early as this month.
In April, India’s import of Russian crude set a new record of 1.68 million barrels per day (bpd), accounting for 36.4 per cent of India’s total oil imports of 4.61 million bpd for the month, according to data provided by energy cargo tracker Vortexa.
In fact, India’s Russian oil imports in April were higher than the combined volumes supplied by traditional heavyweights Iraq and Saudi Arabia,
