OIL: Russia overtakes Iraq to become India’s largest oil supplier for the first time.

Leaving Iraq behind, Russia has now become India’s largest oil supplier country. India’s oil imports from Russia rose for the fifth straight month in November to 9,08,000 barrels per day (bpd), data showed. This is 4 percent more than in October.

The Group of Seven countries, Australia and 27 European Union countries have imposed a cap on Russian marine oil at $60 a barrel from December 5. Because, Western countries are trying to limit Russia’s ability to finance the war in Ukraine. Last month, India’s oil imports from Iraq fell to the lowest since September 2020. Imports from Saudi Arabia fell to a 14-month low. Russian oil accounted for about 23% of India’s total oil imports of 4 million bpd in November.

Saudi Arabia and Russia left UAE behind

Data shows that India’s imports from the Middle East have come down due to higher purchases of Russian oil. Member countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had the lowest decline in November. Iraq remained the largest oil supplier to India in the first eight months (April-November) of this financial year. It was followed by Saudi Arabia and Russia. Both of these dropped the United Arab Emirates to fourth place.