Asia's Crude Imports At All-Time High, India's Devouring Russian Crude

04 September 2023

The crude imports in the Asian regions peaked at an all-time high of more than $900 billion. The imports of crude oil have surged the highest following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “Crude Oil” (Heading 2709) has been at the forefront of the imports among the line of commodities in “Mineral Fuels & Oils” (Chapter 27) in 2022. The imports have registered high spikes in India as well, the Asian country importing Russian crude oil with a surge of $23 billion.

Asia’s Yearly Crude Oil Imports

As per the global trade data, the yearly imports of crude oil in Asia are as follows: $779.5B in 2013, $742.4B in 2014, $412.5B in 2015, $338B in 2016, $454.9B in 2017, $639.1B in 2018, $596.6B in 2019, $421.7B in 2020, $603.2B in 2021, and $903.8B in 2022 (the highest).

India’s Russian Crude Imports

As per the Russian crude oil data, the Russian crude oil supplies to India in the past 4 years have registered these values—$1.4 billion in 2019, followed by $927 million in 2020, $2.3 billion in 2021, and $25.5 billion in 2022. India has registered a drastic surge of $23.2 billion in a year.

In the period following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, India has been importing Russia’s crude in excess due to the discounted prices offered by the Russian Federation as the Western Nations such as the EU, UK, and US imposed sanctions on Russia and refrained from imports.

Russian crude prices were the cheapest in June for India to import in large quantities. Each barrel, inclusive of the freight cost, was valued at $68.17, down from $70.17 in May, and way lower than the cost of $100.48 a year ago, as per the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Indian Crude Imports So Far

According to crude oil data 2023, the imports in India from different countries registered these values in a period of three months—$10.6 billion from Russia, followed by $7.44 billion from Iraq, $7.16 billion from Saudi Arabia, $3.13 billion from the UAE, and $1.87 billion from Kuwait.

As evident from the above-shown data, the crude shipments in India are coming for the highest value from Russia. It is important to note that while the imports from countries such as the UAW and Kuwait have decreased, India’s crude oil imports from Russia grew in each month of 2023.

Asian countries such as India and China are gorging on Russian crude oil after the high discounted prices following sanctions imposed on Russia by Western nations. However, according to some sources, the demand from other countries has lowered India’s discount rate.

While there are other factors at play as well for the lower discount rates for India to purchase Russian crude oil, there is no doubt that Russia has put a halt to this moment of bliss. Due to the rising prices, India’s crude oil imports from Russia might decrease in the coming months.