NEW DELHI: India's Russian oil imports surged to a record high in June, ship tracking data from LSEG and Kpler showed, as refiners snapped up Russian barrels to mitigate the impact of the Strait of Hormuz closure on other sources of supply.
Indian refiners received about 2.70 million bpd of oil from Russia this month, preliminary data from Kpler and LSEG showed.
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India's Russian oil imports in May were 2.13 million bpd, according to Kpler, while LSEG pegged May imports at 1.95 million bpd.
Russian oil has been dominating India's crude diet since 2022-23 as refiners turned to barrels sold at a discount after some European customers shunned purchases from Moscow in retaliation for its war on Ukraine.
Total crude imports by the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer were nearly flat at 4.9 million barrels per day, the Kpler data showed, with Russia as the largest supplier.
Russian oil accounted for more than half of India's overall imports, up from 36.5% in May, the data showed.
India has been gorging on Russian oil to make up for the shortfall of supplies from the Middle East.
