Exports of various fuels, including diesel, from India to the European Union (EU) increased by 58 percent in the first three quarters of 2024. India has become the EU's top oil exporter. However, India bought most of these fuels from Russia at a discount. Then it was refined and sold to the EU at a high price.
The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) monthly tracker report has informed such information.
In December 2022, the European Union and G7 countries imposed price caps and import bans on Russian crude oil after the invasion of Ukraine to cripple Russia economically.
However, as there is no clear policy on Russian crude and refined oil, countries outside the embargo have imported large quantities of oil from Russia. It is then refined and exported to EU member countries that impose price caps.
India has been Russia's second largest oil importer since the Ukraine war. Before the war, Russian oil accounted for less than one percent of India's total oil imports. But now it has reached about 40 percent. India buys Russian oil at a low price and exports it to the EU at full price after refining. This demand has increased as European countries cut their oil imports directly from Moscow.
According to a recent report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), India is now the largest exporter of oil to the European Union using refining facilities. Russian oil is refined at refineries at Jamnagar, Badinar (Gujarat) and New Mangalore in India. Oil exports from these refineries to the European Union increased by 58 percent in the first three quarters of 2024.
The Jamnagar refinery is owned by Reliance Industries Ltd and the Badinar refinery is a unit of Russia's Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) is a subsidiary of India's state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).
CREA said that EU member countries are still importing oil from India. As a result, India is importing more crude oil from Russia and Russia's foreign earnings are increasing.
Before the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe imported an average of 154,000 barrels of diesel and jet fuel per day, which has now almost doubled.
Although CREA did not specify the exact amount of imports, the European think tank noted in an earlier report that countries imposing price caps spent about 8.5 billion euros on imports of oil products made from Russian crude oil in the 13 months to December 2023. That equates to 68 percent of the EU's committed aid to Ukraine between 2024 and 2027.
Finland-based think tank CREA noted in an earlier report that in the 13 months since the oil price cap came into effect (December 2022), more than one-third of India's oil exports have come from Russian crude, with a market value of $6.65 billion).
Russia has no restrictions on buying crude oil and exporting fuels such as diesel made from it. However, the Group of Seven (G7), known as the price capping alliance, the European Union and Australia set a price ceiling of $60 per barrel of Russian crude from December 5, 2022. This was done to reduce Moscow's foreign exchange earnings while continuing to supply the market with oil.
India, the world's third largest oil consumer and importer, bought nearly two billion euros worth of crude oil from Russia in October, CREA said in a recent report. It was 2.4 billion euros in the previous month.
CREA also reported that 34 percent of Russia's crude oil was supplied by ocean tankers, which were covered by the price cap policy. The remainder is supplied by 'shadow' tankers, which are non-regular.
CREA also reported that China bought 47 percent of Russia's crude oil in October, followed by India at 37 percent, the EU at 6 percent and Türkiye at 6 percent.
India was the second largest buyer of Russian energy products in October. In this, Russia received 19 percent (2.6 billion Euros) of the total monthly export earnings of the top five importers from India. About 77 percent of India's imports (worth about 2 billion euros) were crude oil. India contributed 21 percent (2.8 billion euros) to Russia's top five importers in September. About 85 percent of India's imports (worth 2.4 billion euros) were crude oil.
China bought 46 percent of Russia's total coal exports from December 5, 2022 to the end of October 2024, followed by India 17 percent, Turkey 10 percent, South Korea 10 percent and Taiwan 5 percent, the agency said.
According to CREA, 83 percent of Russia's total seaborne oil exports are transported by shadow tankers, which are not bound to follow Western policies.
