India may see lower savings from Russian oil in 2024 as discounts dip

Russian imports accounted for 39% of India's overall crude imports last year from 16% in 2022

Indian imports of Russian crude oil may stabilise or even decline in 2024 from record 2023 levels amid shrinking discounts on oil, lower output levels and a rebound in Middle East supplies, according to ship tracking data and industry officials. This may impact the billions of dollars in annual savings that India made from imports of Russian oil last year.

Imports of Russian oil jumped by a record 140 per cent in calendar 2023 to 1.79 million barrels per day from 740,400 b/d in 2022, when Russia marched into Ukraine in February, and from just 102,000 b/d in 2021, according