Despite shrinking discounts, Russian crude flow to India may continue

Despite discounts on Russian crude oil - which fell to the lowest since the Ukraine war began - and the rising sanctions, import volumes from the country will remain stable for now or at least till July, said refinery officials.

- SUBHAYAN CHAKRABORTY

"There is an appetite for Russian crude, and shipments are not expected to taper off beyond this point unless something major happens. Talks are on, and buying will continue," an official at a major refinery said.

The sentiment was echoed by another official, who pointed out that almost all major refineries have plans to receive Russian crude over the next few months.

Officials added that while Russian shipping fleets remain under sanctions, India is increasingly seeing shipments by tankers aligned with G7 nations.

Over 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) or 33 per cent of the total seaborne Russian crude exports last month were lifted by tankers flagged, owned or operated by companies based in the G7, the EU, Australia, Switzerland or Norway, or insured by Western protection and indemnity clubs, according to data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea and Maritime Intelligence Risk.

This compared with 30.1 per cent, or 1 million bpd in January, and shows that G7-linked tankers were coming back to Russia even as tougher due diligence procedures took effect from February, data shows.

Russia remained the single-largest supplier of crude oil for the 17th straight month as of February, estimates made by London-based commodity data analytics provider Vortexa show.