It was a matter of time when India used to be the biggest buyer of oil from OPEC i.e. Gulf and African countries. India used to get more than 70 percent of its crude oil from these countries. Then a war broke out between Russia and Ukraine. The whole world is the witness of what changed in the world after that. Russia was banned and Russian oil was capped at $60. Russia started selling its oil more cheaply to India and other needy countries. After that, such a ‘game’ happened with the Gulf and African countries that OPEC can no longer do anything except shake hands. The world’s third largest oil importer India’s oil import has come down to life time low from OPEC. Let us try to understand in figures that how Gulf and African countries had to face defeat from Russia in India in the game of oil?

OPEC’s share in India decreased

OPEC’s share in India’s oil imports has come down to below 46 per cent in April. Earlier, the share of OPEC countries, Yali Gulf and African countries was 72 percent. According to energy cargo tracker Vortexa, this share will come down to 46 per cent in April 2023. OPEC once made up 90 per cent of all the crude oil imported by India, but the OPEC share has been steadily shrinking since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year got Russian oil on waivers.

Russia remains India’s largest supplier

In the game of oil, Russia appeared to be winning in India for 7 consecutive months. According to its requirement, India has imported one-third of crude oil from Russia during this period. The special thing is that India is importing more oil from Russia than Iraq and Saudi Arabia combined. Which remained the biggest supplier for India in the last decade. If you look at the figures, in February 2022, the share of Russian oil in India was less than one per cent, which has now increased to more than 36 per cent. In the month of April, India has imported 1.67 million bpd oil from Russia. While this figure has been imported 2.1 million bpd towards OPEC, which is 46 percent of the Indian basket.

European Union had imposed a price cap

Russia is selling a record amount of crude oil to India to bridge the gap in its energy exports after the European Union banned imports in December. In December, the European Union imposed sanctions on Russian marine oil and a price cap of US$60 per barrel. Industry officials said Indian refiners are using UAE dirhams to pay for oil imported at prices below US$60. According to the report of Vortexa, India had imported only 68,600 bpd crude oil from Russia about a quarter of a year ago, which has increased to 1,678,000 bpd in April 2023.