India: Increased Russian oil imports after the invasion

Refineries in India have requested at least 40 million barrels of Russian oil since the invasion began on February 24, Reuters accounts are shown. The oil will be delivered in June. This compares to Russia’s total oil imports to India, which amounted to 16 million barrels over the past year.

According to the information BBC And the Indian media gets a discount of 30 US dollars per barrel, which is equivalent to less than 300 kroner. And so India is moving away a bit at a time of soaring global energy prices. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is defending the decision to buy Russian oil by saying that it is about small quantities: “What we buy from Russia in a month is less than what Europe buys in the afternoon.”

At the same time, the United States has Britain tried to pressure India to refrain from buying Russian oil. The United States said that even if oil imports did not violate sanctions, “supporting Russia…supporting an invasion would have a devastating effect,” BBC writes. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss delivered a similar message during a visit to New Delhi earlier this spring.

India is the world’s third largest importer of crude oil, and more than 80 percent of domestic demand is purchased from abroad. As the economy recovers from the pandemic, the need for oil is expected to rise sharply. About 60 percent of India’s oil imports come from the Middle East, and only three percent from Russia.

India and Russia It has strong ties when it comes to trade, not least in arms and defense equipment, with more than 50 percent of India’s imports coming from Russia.

India is one of the countries that does not want to describe Russia’s actions in Ukraine as an invasion. At the United Nations General Assembly, India abstained when a large majority of the world’s countries voted to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine. India also abstained from voting in the Security Council.