India's Russia oil imports slump, US crude purchases rise in July

Two months before American President Donald Trump unleashed his tariff and penalty war on India, Indian state-run oil refiners had started reducing purchases from Russia, sending the July import of Russian crude oil 22-27 per cent below that in June, according to refining sources and the ship-tracking data.

- S DINAKAR

Import from Russia in July was around 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd), the lowest this year after February, compared to 1.95-2.1 million bpd in June, according to the data from maritime intelligence agencies Vortexa and Kpler, reviewed by Business Standard.

On the other hand, India's crude oil import in July, at 4.68 million bpd, declined by just less than 1 per cent from June. This shows sellers in West Asia, Africa, and the United States (US) have increased their share in the Indian market in July at the expense of Russia.

Trump on Wednesday announced a 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods and unspecified penalties for purchasing Russian oil and arms.

"If these new tariffs are enforced, combined with existing sector-specific tariffs on products like aluminum, steel and automobiles, the total effective US tariffs on Indian imports would rise to around 26.6 percentage points excluding penalties," Goldman Sachs on Thursday said in a report. Crude-oil import from the US increased 23 per cent in July from June, accounting for 8 per cent of the total. This was much higher than the 3 per cent share in February, reflecting New Delhi's attempts to accommodate the Trump administration's agenda of higher US energy export.