India’s Russian crude buying has reached its limit

Middle East grades remain a diminished but important part of the South Asian country’s diet, especially as new refining capacity comes online

India’s love affair with Russian crude continued in 2024, with Russia having been been the largest supplier to India for three years now. The love is far from unconditional, however, it is born out of the war in Ukraine on the one side and a desire to save money by buying heavily discounted grades on the other. A closer look shows the proportion of Russian volumes as a percentage of India’s overall imports was down for the majority of months in 2024 compared with 2023, indicating that imports from other regions are increasing—albeit on a marginal basis. And the old adage about never forgetting your first love seems to apply, with some Indian refiners having started to pursue Middle Eastern s