Nigerian, Russia now beneficiaries of Indian refiners’ high appetite for crude oil

Nigeria and Russia are some of the biggest beneficiaries of Indian refiners’ high appetite for non-European and Middle Eastern crude oil last month, according to analysts at Refinitiv, an American-British global provider of financial market data and infrastructure.

Ehsan Ul Haq, analyst with Refinitiv, said Indian refiners have been demanding for diesel and jet fuel from Nigeria due to the costly price offered by Middle Eastern national for their oil, ramping up Africa’s oil export to India from 5.9% in April, to 11.5% in May.

“Diesel is calling the tune … if you want to boost production of diesel and jet fuel then you need Nigerian and Angolan grades. China has cut imports of Angolan grades because of Covid-related shutdowns so some of these barrels are going to Europe and some to India.” Hindustantimes quoted Ul Haq on Monday.

READ ALSO: NNPC spends N945.5bn on Oil subsidy in 4 months

While the figure for last month’s trade isn’t available, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), India imported crude oil worth N774.5 billion in Q1 last year from Africa’s largest economy.

Aside from Nigeria, Russia has also seen India’s demand for its oil skyrocket to its highest in May, with the country importing 819,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Russian oil, against the 277,000 Vladimir Putin exported to the South Asian country in April.

The significant increase is driven by Russia overloading its oil at a cheaper price to mitigate the impact of European Union ban on its crude export into the European continent. Putin’s country was restricted from trading with most EU nations over its decision to invade Ukraine.

The war began on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, and part of EU measures to weaken Putin is to cut his major financial source, which is crude oil, to prevent him from having enough cash to finance the war.