New Delhi: India with China, the two countries that happen to be the world’s top oil users, carried on with buying heavily discounted Russian crude oil, buying as much as 80 per cent of the oil that Moscow had exported in May, cited the International Energy Agency (IEA) report.

“Heavily discounted Russian crude oil has found new buyers primarily in Asia. India has increased purchases from almost nothing to close to 2 million barrels per day, while China has raised liftings by 500,000 barrels per day to 2.2 million barrels per day,” the energy agency said in its latest Oil Market report.

Russian seaborne crude exports counted up to 3.87 million barrels per day in May, the highest figure since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

As Europe banned Russia’s formerly main crude export markets with G7 imposing trade barriers, more than 90 per cent of Russian seaborne crude now goes to Asia, higher than pre-war levels of 34 per cent.

Imports of Russian oil in India were 14 per cent, more than in April as a fresh record height for Russian crude flows into the country.

Buying cheap Russian crude is incentivised by deep discounts. Russia’s main crude export grade Urals discount to Dated Brent aggregated to USD 26 per barrel in May’s first three weeks, compared to USD 3.70 a barrel in January 2022.

As per IEA, Indian GDP will grow by 4.8 per cent in 2023, rising to 6.3 per cent in 2023 as it heads to the even stronger figure of 7 per cent in 2025-28.

“Growth will be buttressed by favourable demographics and an expanding middle class. India is set to overtake China in terms of global year-on-year oil demand growth in 2027”, IEA stated.

The main fuel, Diesel, has its share in the product mix, which will raise from 32 per cent to 35 per cent over the forecast period.

Earlier in 2023, increasing exports from India, the Middle East and China moved west to European and G7 buyers in the Atlantic Basin to offset Russian cargoes now moving to buyers East of Suez (300,000 barrels per day or roughly one-third of Russian exports), stated IEA.