A man paints the logo of oil refiner Bharat Petroleum on a wall on the outskirts of Kochi, India
Indian refiners face sourcing dilemma
With new capacity, buyers must navigate sanctioned Russian crude, a return to traditional OPEC barrels and diversity of supply
India, the world’s third-largest importer of crude, shows no sign of waning appetite, with refining capacity expected to expand in 2025. Russia and OPEC’s Middle East grades have been top of the menu, and that may well continue up to a point. But sanctions, geopolitical shifts and crude quality mean it may no longer be a simple straight shoot out even if OPEC producers now have the upper hand. India imported 4.84m b/d of crude oil in 2024, registering growth of 4.3% from 2023. On a regional basis, OPEC was the largest supplier to India. The region accounted for 51.5% of total exports in 2024, as compared with 49.6% in 2023. However, on individual country basis, Russia was the largest crude o
Also in this section
3 July 2025
The July/August 2025 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!
2 July 2025
The global energy community will converge in Dubai on 10 December for a landmark event dedicated to shaping the future of natural gas across the region
30 June 2025
Government is sending out the right policy signals to support increased domestic gas development, but policy takes time to implement and even longer to yield results
27 June 2025
Gas-on-gas competition pricing has grown its share of consumption significantly over the past two decades, primarily at the expense of oil-price-escalation pricing, according to the IGU
