NEW DELHI: India has received 34 million barrels of discounted Russian oil since Moscow invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, more than trebling the value of total imports from Russia, including other products, compared with the same period of 2021.

The volumes of India’s seaborne oil imports from Russia exclude CPC Blend oil, which is also exported via Russia’s Black Sea port, but mostly supplied by Kazakhstan’s subsidiaries of western countries as transit volumes.

India’s oil imports from Russia have been rising since February, as Asia’s third largest economy and the world’s third biggest oil importer, turned to deeply discounted Russian oil, mostly Urals crude, to cut its imports bill.

Russian oil output slightly up at 10.17mn bpd, TASS reports

The country received more than 24 million barrels of Russian crude this month, up from 7.2 million barrels in April and about 3 million in March, and is set to receive about 28 million barrels in June, according to Refinitiv Eikon oil flows.

Surging energy imports helped push India’s total goods imports from Russia between Feb. 24 and May 26 to $6.4 billion, compared with $1.99 billion in the same period last year, according to government figures seen by Reuters.