Source: Cailian
October 20th Press Release (Editor 纯)According to comprehensive media reports such as CCTV News, India's oil imports from Russia rebounded in the first half of October due to increased demand in India's domestic market.
Preliminary data from global trade analytics firm Kpler show,In the first half of October, India imported an average of about 1.8 million barrels of oil from Russia per day, about 250,000 barrels more than the average daily import volume in September。
It is important to note that these data are subject to revision.
India's rebound in Russian oil imports in the first half of October reversed a declining trend for three consecutive months from July to September.。 Previously, imports had fallen from more than 2 million barrels per day in June to 1.6 million barrels per day in September.
The rebound wasly due, on the one hand, to the full operation of Indian refineries to meet festival demand, and, on the other hand, to the Russian crude oil price again.
The data represented the situation prior to U.S. President Trump’s speech on October 15. Trump announced that Prime Minister Modi had told him that India was ready to stop buying Russian oil. He also said that India “cannot immediately” stop purchasing, and said it was a “time-consuming process, but this process will soon end.”
However, a spokesman for the Indian Foreign Ministry said it was unclear about the recent contacts between Modi and Trump, nor whether the Indian leader promised to stop buying Russian oil.
Sumit Ritolia, chief research analyst at Kpler, said:Trump’s remarks are likely to be a pressure strategy associated with trade talks, rather than a sign of imminent policy changes.。He pointed out that for economic, contractual and strategic reasons, Russian oil remains deeply integrated into India's energy system.
He also pointed out that the decline in India's imports of Russian oil from July to September was more influenced by seasonal factors (such as increased public sector refinery maintenance activities) than tariff concerns.
India is one of the world’s largest oil importers.In 2024, India’s oil imports grew by 2.3% to 2,4 billion tons.
After the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in February 2022, Western countries began to impose sanctions on Russia. Since then, India has begun to buy Russian oil at discounted prices. Russian oil's share of India's total oil imports has increased from 1.7% in 2019-20 to 40% in 2023-24, making Russia India's largest oil supplier.