Indian purchases of Russian crude slump by record 25% in August

Indian purchases of Russian crude oil declined by around 25 per cent in the first half of August, the steepest month-on-month drop in terms of volumes, with refiners expecting further falls amid contract negotiations for late September/October deliveries, according to industry officials and ship tracking analysts.

Lower discounts, coupled with higher procurement costs, will erode margins and hurt Q2FY24 earnings at state-run refiners, analysts said.
 

Shipments of Russian oil loaded for India dropped to a little less than 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first fortnight of August from around 2 million bpd in July, according to the loading data from Paris-based market intelligence agency Kpler and London-based market intelligence agency Vortexa.