India rushes Russian oil ahead of sanctions

While private refiners’ imports constituted over two-thirds of India’s total imports, state-owned refineries almost doubled their Russian volumes month-on-month in Oct

- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

India, the second-biggest buyer of Russian oil, spent as much as 2.5 billion euro on purchases of crude oil from Moscow in October, ahead of new sanctions being slapped on Russian entities, a European think tank has said.

India’s spending in October was unchanged from the 2.5 billion euro spent on buying Russian oil in September.

India remained the second-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in October behind China, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

On October 22, the US imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, two of the largest oil producers in Russia, to cut off the Kremlin's resources for funding the Ukraine war. The sanctions have resulted in companies like Reliance Industries, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd halting imports for now.

Russia shipped 60 million barrels of crude oil in October, with Rosneft and Lukoil together accounting for 45 million barrels.