Russia pips Saudi Arabia to be India's second-largest oil supplier at 25 million barrels

Brent crude oil futures (Representative Image)

At 25 million barrels of shipment in May, Russia has become India's second-largest oil supplier, sending Saudi Arabia to the third spot on the list led by Iraq at the top.

According to industry data, Russian crude accounted for around 16 percent of India's oil imports in May.

The European Commission has been the latest to slap sanctions on Russian crude after the country declared war on Ukraine in February. The measure was aimed to build pressure on the Russian economy, which depends heavily on oil exports. Moscow resorted to record discounts to counter the crisis.

The fall in demand for Russian Ural oil also led to a fall in its spot prices. India took advantage of this situation and bought oil at a discount as high as $30 a barrel. It must be noted that earlier Russian oil was imported in far less quantity due to high freight costs. In April, India imported only 2,77,000 barrels from Russia but it increased to 8,19,000 barrels a month later.

India is the third-largest importer of crude oil in the world. It imports around 85 percent of all its oil requirements. Russia's share in Indian oil imports jumped from 5 percent to over 16 percent between April and May 2022.

The Indian government has repeatedly defended its decision to import oil from the country. The oil ministry had last month stated that "energy purchases from Russia remain minuscule in comparison to India's total consumption".

With Inputs from Reuters and PTI