India escalates its purchase of Russian fuel to greater extent -

New Delhi: In February, India bought more than 1.6 million barrels per day of oil from Russia. Earlier, Saudi Arabia and Iraq supplied the most oil to India. However, in February, India bought more oil from Russia than the total fuel imported from Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It has come to light that India’s fuel companies have benefited greatly from this.

Vortexa, which monitors fuel transactions, has provided information on fuel transactions between India and Russia. In February, India bought more than 1.6 million barrels of fuel daily from Russia. Before the Ukraine conflict, India had been buying less than 1% of its fuel oil from Russia compared to its demand. But after the conflict in Ukraine, the US and European countries imposed restrictions on exporting Russian fuel. Russia then proposed to supply fuel to India at discounted rates. India has taken full advantage of this. Today, Russia has become the largest oil supplier to India, surpassing Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United States.

Moreover, Vortexa informed that Russia currently supplies India with 35% of its demand. It explained that while the supply of oil from Russia has been increasing, the supply from Saudi Arabia to India has decreased by 16%, while the supply of fuel from the United States has decreased by 38%. In the last decade, Saudi Arabia and Iraq were India’s major fuel oil suppliers. But now they have been replaced by Russia, claimed Vortexa.

Furthermore, Vortexa also pointed out that Indian fuel companies make huge profits by refining crude oil from Russia. Earlier, it revealed that this fuel deal with India was a saviour to the Russian economy. Thus, the US and European countries pressured India not to buy fuel from Russia. The US and European countries have still been pressurising India for this. However, India clarified that the national companies of India, responsible for providing cheap fuel to the country’s consumers choose the right option while purchasing fuel, and the government does not interfere. Also, India made the US and European countries aware that refusing fuel from Russia at discounted rates was not possible.

Besides, after realising their pressure on India was not working, Western countries tried to stop the fuel trade between India and Russia differently. The US and European countries had imposed sanctions that no one should buy fuel from Russia at a price higher than 60 dollars per barrel. The US suggested that India should take advantage of these restrictions to purchase fuel from Russia at a lower price, but India has ignored it.

मराठी हिंदी