Daily volumes climbed to 2.2 million barrels a day in June, rising for a 10th month, Viktor Katona, the head of crude analysis at Kpler told Bloomberg.
According to the data from the analytics firm, Russian purchases once again exceeded the combined shipments of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
Earlier, Kpler reported that Moscow accounted for 46% of India’s oil imports in May, a staggering leap from less than 2% before the invasion of Ukraine.
India has stepped in from the wings to prop up the Russian economy.
India emerged as a key consumer of Russian oil following the invasion of Ukraine, but the nation’s buying could be near its limit due to infrastructure issues and the need to maintain good relations with other suppliers. Kpler said imports may dip next month because of lower Russian supply.State-owned Indian Oil has been the biggest buyer of Russian crude over the past two months, followed by Reliance Industries Ltd., according to Kpler.
Overall, India’s imports of Urals hit another record of 1.5 million barrels a day in June, the analytics firm said.
The average cost of Russian crude delivered to Indian shores was $68.21 a barrel — while Saudi oil stood at $86.96 – in April.
With inputs from Bloomberg
