Russia will sell more oil to India, though China’s demand spurs: report
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New Delhi: China’s demand for Russian oil has gone up after the nation has done away with covid restrictions.
This does not make Russia rely entirely on Chinese demand, skipping India from its list.
According to commodity-data firm Kpler, Russia will continue to sell as much oil as India wants from Russia.
This was not the case a year ago when India bought almost no oil from Russia, relying largely on Arab countries.
As for Russia, India has become a crucial market after the US and European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow.
In February, India imported 1.85 million barrels of oil which is close to India’s potential maximum buy of about 2 million barrels a day, according to Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at Kpler.
Katona further said that Indian market is more lucrative for Russia while it gives Russian crude sellers greater control too.
Russian’s preference for India comes at a time when China shows every possibility to buy ‘literally the entire Russian oil exports’.
The International Energy Agency said that Russia exported 2.3 million barrels of crude to China a day last month.
As the pandemic induced travel restrictions end in China, the Asian giant’s demand for oil will grow by about 900,000 barrels a day this year.
On the shipping front, China has the capacity to manage it, which will deprive Moscow of income from tanker service, according to the report.
Moreover, it takes just 35 days on average for tankers to get to India from Russia’s western ports. But ferrying oil to China meant 40 to 45 days, according to Katona.