Russian Oil Refined in India Escapes EU Sanctions

· India's Fuel Exports to EU Up 572% since Ukraine War

Export of refined products like jet fuel or diesel from India to the European Union has increased from 1.1 million barrels in January 2022 to 7.4 million barrels in April this year, according to the grouping’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell.

The 572% increase – albeit on a low base -- in product exports coincides with rising import of Russian oil by India. The share of Russian crude in India’s oil imports has gone up from 1.7 million barrels to 63.3 million barrels since the conflict in Ukraine, the EU’s High Representative on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said in a note on the groupings foreign service website.

“Put differently, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the share of Russian oil in India’s overall oil import stood at 0.2%. Last month (May), that share had risen to 36.4%,” he said.

Borrell also named China, the world’s top oil guzzler, as another big buyer of Russian oil. “It is a fact that India, but also China, is importing ever larger volumes of Russian oil since the G7 introduced its price cap ($60/barrel) at the end of 2022 and is doing so at a clear discount,” he said.

India, with a refining capacity of 250 million tonne per annum, or 5 million barrels per day, has traditionally been an exporter of petroproducts. Russia was a major supplier of products and intermediaries to the EU before the energy curbs opened the market in a big way for Indian refiners.

Private sector Reliance Industries Ltd and Rosneft-owned Nayara, which run two of the world’s largest refinery complexes, have been major exporters to the EU and the US.

The Finnish non-government agency Centre for Research on Energy & Clean Air in a recent report described India as a “laundromat” for Russian oil because of rising volumes of Russian crude imports and export of refined products to the West.

The oil ministry reacted saying, “As a sovereign country, India is free to import or export goods and commodities within the terms of international law”, and pointed out that India has traditionally been an exporter of refined products.

On the western price cap, the ministry said “oil imports below $60 from Russia or elsewhere are not under any international embargo. There is also no self-embargo by 'coalition countries' on buying diesel from refiners around the world.”