India saved $25 billion by importing Russian crude oil : Ministry data

NEW DELHI : Russian crude supplies and lower international oil prices helped India to save over $25 billion worth of foreign exchange in the year ended March 31 compared to 2022-23, although it imported almost similar quantities in the two financial years, according to government data.

India imported crude oil worth $132.40 billion in 2023-24 compared to $157.50 billion spent in 2022-23. The country imported 232.7 million tonnes (MT) of crude oil in 2022-23, which fell marginally by 0.08% to 232.5 MT, but savings in terms of value shot up about 16%.

There were two key reasons for the significant savings – lower average cost of India’s crude oil imports in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23, and purchase of highly discounted Russian oil, experts said.

The value of savings in Indian currency was about ₹1.64 lakh crore. India imported crude oil worth over ₹12.60 lakh crore in 2022-23 and ₹10.97 lakh crore in 2023-24. It imported more than 87% crude oil paid in dollars.

India’s average cost of various types of crude oil imports, called the Indian basket, in 2023-24 was $82.58 a barrel, $10.57 a barrel less than $93.15 per barrel in the preceding fiscal year, according to provisional data. The composition of the Indian basket represents an average of Oman and Dubai for sour grades, and Brent for sweet grade.

Imports of petroleum products also saw a dip in terms of value from $28.2 billion in 2022-23 to $25.1 billion in 2023-24. Imports of petroleum products include LPG, naphtha, bitumen and fuel oil.

Gross imports, which include both crude oil and petroleum products, also saw a declining trend in value terms, even as import quantities increased. While 277.3 MT of gross petroleum imports in 2022-23 were worth $184.4 billion, gross import in 2023-24 was 280.5 MT worth $155.8 billion.

India, one of the global crude oil refining hubs, exported products worth $47.4 billion (62.2 MT) of total quantities to Africa and Europe in 2023-24 compared to $57.3 billion (61 MT) in 2022-23.

With total installed refining capacity of 256.8 million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA), India processed 261.5 MT in 2023-24, which was more than the target for 2023-24 (251.7) and output of 2022-23 (255.2 MT).

India has about two dozen refineries owned and operated by both public and private companies. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are the three large state-run refineries. Private refiners are operated by Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy. HPCL-Mittal Energy is a joint venture Hindustan Petroleum and the LN Mittal group.