Supplies of Russian crude to India would continue in 2024 amid the two strategic partners' de-dollarization push, an oil analyst has told Sputnik India on Wednesday.
The comments of Arpit Chandna, an energy specialist with Refinitiv, a London Stock Exchange Group firm, come in the wake of New Delhi's record oil imports from Moscow.
Before March 2022, Russia held a less than 2 percent share in India's oil volumes, its contribution now stands at around 40 percent.
This came after Western countries imposed unilateral economic sanctions on Russia following the launch of the Eurasian nation's special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
As Western sovereign states boycotted Russian products, including crude, India opted to increase its imports of Black Gold from the world's largest country.
Furthermore, there was no drop in India's Russian oil imports despite repeated pressure from the US and the European Union (EU), with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar vehemently defending the decision, underlining that crude purchases from Moscow were vital for the South Asian country's energy security.
Russia Remains India's No.1 Crude Supplier For Months Round
Against this backdrop, Chandna stated that as per Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC) data, Indian crude oil imports in 2023 noted higher volumes of Russian oil offloaded averaging around 38% of total import volumes till December 2023.
He noted that during 2023, Russian crude oil exports to India were the highest in July, totaling 8,795 Kilotons (KT) which is around 42% of the total import volume of India.
The oil expert revealed that the share of Russian crude in Indian imports post-July has been in the comforting range of 35% to 40% suggesting the continued trend of meeting the country's energy demand.
Chandna opined that this trend will likely continue in 2024 as major consumers like India and China will continue importing Russian crude oil.
Trade in National Currencies a Factor in India's Russian Oil Imports
"India and Russia have a prolonged strategic partnership which has evolved over a long period. The political support extended to each other and ditching the US Dollar as the payment mode are a few factor that would continue the flow of Russian crude oil to India," he told Sputnik India on Wednesday.
It is worth noting that India and Russia have been settling their trade in national currencies - Rupee and Rouble, respectively.
The two countries are part of the group of nations that are trying to shake up the dominance of the US greenback as the prime currency for international trade.
On the other hand, he observed that India is likely to utilize the Russian crude oil prices when major benchmarks like Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) are trading volatile due to global market dynamics.
Additionally, he suggested that in 2024, the demand for refined products in India would likely remain higher, resulting in more crude import volumes, which would benefit Russia.