India and China, the world’s top oil users, continued to lap up heavily discounted Russian crude oil, buying as much as 80 per cent of the oil that Moscow exported in May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report. “Heavily discounted Russian crude oil has found new buyers primarily in Asia. India has increased purchases from almost nothing to close to 2 million barrels per day, while China has raised liftings by 500,000 barrels per day to 2.2 million barrels per day,” the Paris-based energy agency said in its latest Oil Market Report.
Russia-origin seaborne crude exports averaged 3.87 million barrels per day in May, the highest since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. “In May 2023, India and China accounted for almost 80 per cent of Russian crude oil exports,” IEA said. “In turn, Russia made up 45 per cent and 20 per cent of crude imports in India and China, respectively.
