India bought a record amount of Russian oil in April

NEW DELHI, May 17 (Reuters) – India boosted purchases of Russian oil to a new record in April, bringing the share of Middle Eastern and African grades in the country’s imports to the lowest level in at least 22 years, industry sources showed.

Refineries in India, the world’s third largest oil importer and consumer, are actively buying Russian raw materials after Western countries refused to buy oil and petroleum products from Moscow.

Asia’s third-largest economy imported about 1.9 million barrels a day of Russian oil in April, an increase of about 4.4% from the previous month. This is about two-fifths of the country’s total imports.

The increase in oil imports from Russia increased the share of purchases from the CIS countries – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia – to 43.6% of India’s total imports, or 4.81 million barrels per day in April.

India’s increase in Russian oil imports in April pushed purchases of Middle Eastern varieties, which traditionally accounted for the bulk of the country’s oil purchases, to around 44% and African varieties to 3.4%.

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(Nidhi Verma in NEW DELHI)