Oil from CIS nations - Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan - accounted for a record 38.3% of imports in February, while the share of African nations declined to 3.6%, the lowest in records going back to 2001, the data showed.
"India's intake of Russian low-sulphur grades like Sokol
increased last month and that displaced purchases of sweet
grades from west Africa," said Ehsan Ul Haq, analyst with
Refinitiv.
Indian refiners are importing low sulphur oil such as Sokol
and ESPO, sold at above the $60 a barrel price cap fixed by the
western economies, in non-dollar currencies as their landed
price is still cheaper than the rival grades from Africa.
European nations had lifted purchase of middle
distillate-rich African oil as Europe's diesel stocks were
running low, Haq said.
Europe's distillate stocks were below the 10-year average at
the end of January.
Also, Indian refiners appeared to have increased oil
purchases from producers in the Middle East under their yearly
contracts to meet contractual obligations, he said.
India's imports of Iraqi oil in February rose by 5.3% from
January to reach an eight-month high of 1.03 million bpd, the
data showed.
In the first 11 months of this fiscal year, from April to
February, Iraq continued to be the largest oil supplier to India
while Russia overtook Saudi Arabia to take the second spot, the
data showed.
Higher purchases of Russian oil dragged down Indian crude
imports from member nations of Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) to the lowest level in the 22 years
of records.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ India's annual oil imports from various regions Share of various regions in India's monthly oil imports Opec's share of India's oil imports drop to record low ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Bradley Perrett)
Messaging: nidhi.verma.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))