Russian oil gush
1 min read . Updated: 07 Mar 2023, 01:14 AM IST
PremiumIndia’s crude oil imports from Russia reportedly hit a fresh high of 1.6 million barrels per day in February, higher than our combined oil imports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia
India’s crude oil imports from Russia reportedly hit a fresh high of 1.6 million barrels per day in February, higher than our combined oil imports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, two of the country’s other top suppliers. This has taken Russia’s market share in India’s total oil imports to 35%. This figure was a paltry under-2% before the shake-up caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early last year. A price cap imposed recently by the West on Russian oil was needless interference, but it hasn’t gotten in the way of shipments sought by Indian oil refiners and supplied by Moscow. Like other US-led economic sanctions intended to punish Russia, that restriction has had less impact than Washington might have expected. The Russian economy shrank only a bit more than 2% in 2022, so Vladimir Putin being pushed out of power for putting his country’s people in misery is more of a Western fantasy than strategy. The US-led West must also realize that New Delhi has its own interests to guard, and acquiring discount oil is a sign of this and not any geopolitical comfort with an anti-West bloc. As with arms procurement, it’s pragmatism that motivates such Indian deal-making.