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    Europe remains biggest importers of Russian energy

    Synopsis

    India's daily requirement of crude oil is about five million barrels or about 1800 million barrels a year, ET has learnt. And it is a well known fact that 85% of India’s crude oil requirements are met through imports. For Financial Year 2020-21, India’s oil imports stood at 1440.3 million barrels; while for the current FY, India has already imported 1289.3 million barrels i.e. 175.9 MMT.

    GasAgencies
    China and Japan are among the top 10 destinations, together accounting for approximately 10%, or 882 billion cubic feet, of Russia’s natural gas exports.
    Energy hungry India is being targeted for purchasing Russian oil to meet its growing demand but fact remains that Europe and parts of Asia are bigger importers of Russian oil and gas even to this date.

    India's daily requirement of crude oil is about five million barrels or about 1800 million barrels a year, ET has learnt. And it is a well known fact that 85% of India’s crude oil requirements are met through imports. For Financial Year 2020-21, India’s oil imports stood at 1440.3 million barrels; while for the current FY, India has already imported 1289.3 million barrels i.e. 175.9 MMT.
    Even with announced reductions by one third, EU’s reliance on Russian gas will still remain significant. For gas itself, Europe is still the largest regional importer of Russia’s natural gas, accounting for nearly 75% of Russia’s total natural gas exports. The recipients include Germany and Italy. Exceptions and exclusions have been built into the design of the sanctions so that Europe can continue to use and pay for Russian crude and gas, sources pointed out.

    China and Japan are among the top 10 destinations, together accounting for approximately 10%, or 882 billion cubic feet, of Russia’s natural gas exports.

    Principal sources of import of crude oil by India are: Iraq - 23%; Saudi Arabia – 18%; UAE – 11.3%; Nigeria – 8% and USA - 7.3% It may be pointed out here that Russia is not in top 10 sources of Indian crude imports.

    Russian crude imports account for less than 1% of India’s consumption. India imported only 0.419 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) of crude oil from Russia, as compared to overall crude oil imports of 175.9 MMT in this FY.

    Purchases of two-three million barrels of Russian crude by Indian refiners ignore the fact that two million barrels is not enough to meet consumption requirements for even half a day, experts explained. Further contracted quantities are due for delivery in different months – March, April and May. Altogether, even if this is added up the volumes till May, they would barely meet two days of India’s energy requirements. Often, two million barrels is just one shipload, a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), not even enough for an Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC).

    These imports are based on commercial and operational decisions of Indian refiners, for running smooth Refinery operations, at affordable costs and transactions are most often with traders, ET has learnt

    As a strategic imperative, India has to cater to its energy security. This will involve source diversification. Purchases from the USA have increased. All of last year was 14.4 MMT. This year in the first 10 months, imports are 14 MMT. By proportion, the US now accounts for 8% as against 7.3% last year. Indian refiners will be buying about 3 MMT more from US this year, that is about $2.25 billion making it over $ 10 billion for the year remitted to the US for crude

    India also has to source crude at best possible competitive rates so that the burden on citizens is reduced. High pump prices hurt livelihoods, in both India and the US, experts pointed out.

    Export of Crude oil (HS 2709) from Russia to World

    2021- USD 111 billion (231 million tons)

    Top 5 importers included Netherlands – USD 17.3 billion (37.3 million tons); Germany – USD 9.2 billion (19.1 millon tons).

    2020- USD 72.5 billion (239 million tons)

    Top 5 importers included Netherlands USD 9.4 billion (31.7 million tons); Germany- USD 6.2 billion (21.8 million tons); Poland - USD 4.1 billion (14.8 million tons)


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