Have India’s imports of Russian crude peaked?

Russia has leapfrogged Mideast sources to become India’s largest supplier, but flows may be poised to plateau

India’s crude supply mix has seen a dramatic shift over the last 18 months. Russia, which accounted for a meagre 2% of India’s oil imports before the war in Ukraine, now accounts for more than 40% of the country’s total. For ten months in a row between October 2022 and July 2023, Russia was the largest supplier for Indian crude importers. Russia has displaced traditional Middle Eastern crude suppliers by such a wide margin that Russian imports in July were higher than the combined imports of the next four-largest sources—Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the US.    ”India’s imports of Russian crude are likely to slow in the coming months with Russia scaling back its exports” Huang, Vorte