Recently, India has become Europe’s number one oil supplier beating Saudi Arabia. Before the Ukraine-Russia conflict, India used to supply oils to Europe with 154,00 Barrels Per Day and after the conflict it went up to 360,000 Barrels per day. People may be surprised as to where is India getting its oil from? India is not like Iraq or Saudi Arabia, to produce Oils but gets oils from Russia, a friendly country of India from a very long time. Russia has been selling its oil to India at a discounted rate since the beginning of the conflict as Russia was heavily sanctioned by both United States of America and Europe. But during this conflictIndia- Russia trade relation has increased exponentially and has reached all time high. Russia has become India’s no. 1 Oil Supplier replacing Iraq, Saudi Arabia etc., similarly, India has become Russia’s Top 5 Trading partner. Now, with the help of Russian oil, India has replaced Saudi Arabia and other oil producing Countries and became Europe’s top fuel supplier.
India is known for its refineries around the around, therefore, the Russian crude oil that was brought to India for refining and further sell it to the world, especially USA and Europe. With this even after numerous sanctions on Russia, Russian oil gets its entry into Europe through back doors. When Indian External affairs Minister was asked why India is buying Russian oil and funding Russia in the conflict; He immediately replied to that by stating that India has prioritized its national interest over anything else, as this discounted oil would benefit the citizens to get fuel at low prices, India is buying oil from a country which gives it at a lower price, he also stated that the Russian oil was mostly bought by private companies instead of government companies, so government is not involved directly in funding the conflict.
India-Russia Trade Relation
India-Russia relation is one of most constant relation between countries in the world. Russia has been India oldest friend has helped India in many aspects. Russia has also gained much help from India and India is one of the top buyers of Russian weapons. India-Russia relation has been going smoothly and the trade was about $7-8 billion per year, but during Ukraine-Russia conflict Russia suffered severe backlash and got sanctioned by Europe and USA, preventing it from selling any good to other countries, but India started buying Russian oil as Russia gave India and China special discount on Crude oil. As the Crude Oil prices in the world increased to $100 per barrel many countries had trouble buying oil from the gulf countries. However, India had no such issue and maintained a stable economy as it was buying oil from Russia at a discounted rate. During this conflict, Russia and India Relation is at its peak and the trade between the two countries has grown exponentially from $7-8 billion to $40 billion this year.
Europe’s Hypocrisy
Europe along with USA has sanctioned Russia over Ukraine-Russia conflict that has been going on for about a year now. But in the early stage of the conflict, Europe urged the world to not purchase Russian oil and natural gas and to destroy ties with Russia. However, it was exposed that Europe itself was buying Russian oil and Natural gas with a high price to protect itself from winter. When Indian EAM S. Jaishankar was asked by European reporters about India’s purchase of Russian oils, he exposed Europe’s hypocrisy to the world and stated before blaming any other country Europe should look at themselves and he also stated “Europe’s problem is world’s problems whereas world’s problems are not Europe’s problem”. But even after repeated pressure from USA and Europe India did not stop buying Russian oil. Now, with the help of India, Russia is still powering Europe. Last year, European stopped any crude oil imports from Russia and extended prohibition to refined fuels. However, this rule did not prevent India from selling its fuel products refined from Russian crude oil to Europe. This shows the hypocrisy of Europe that even after heavily sanctioning Russia and not purchasing Russian oil but now buying crude oil from India, which is Russian crude oil.
FAQ:
Why is India Buying Russian Oil?
When this question was asked to Indian External Affair Minister; he replied saying that India has prioritized its national interest over anything else, as this discounted oil would benefit the citizens to get fuel at low prices, India is buying oil from a country which gives it at a lower price, he also stated that the Russian oil was mostly bought by private companies instead of government companies, so government is not involved directly in funding the conflict.
How much crude oil India imports?
Crude Oil comprises of 17% of India’s total imports and in the recent years it has increased as India imported Crude oil from Russia at a low price. The demand sometimes went up to 33,000 barrel per day.
How much oil did Europe import from Russia?
Europe has been a constant buyer of Russian oil and natural gas. Before the Ukraine-Russia conflict, India used to supply oils to Europe with 154,00 Barrels Per Day and after the conflict it went up to 360,000 Barrels per day. Indian oil that is flowing in Europe is actually the Russian oil that is sanctioned by the Europe and USA.