ENB Pub Note: While looking at the EU imports of refined products, you must compare the Indian crude oil imports to their refineries. You will see the Russian oil being refined and sent back to the EU, bypassing sanctions. The true effect: The diminished importance of the United States on the global stage. Putin would say: “How I view the United States sanctions is mind over matter. I don’t mind, because they don’t matter.”
The bloc has drastically increased purchases from the South Asian nation, RIA Novosti reports, citing EU statistics
According to Eurostat’s latest EU imports and exports data, the bloc bought 7.9 million tons of petroleum products from India between January and September this year, which is 2.5 times more than during the same period in 2022, RIA Novosti wrote. Compared to 2021, imports increased more than three-fold, the agency added.
The increase saw India move up in the EU petroleum products supplier rankings, and was second only to Saudi Arabia in terms of supply volumes over the reporting period. Last year, India occupied sixth place, and was seventh in 2021.
Within the EU, France, the Netherlands, and Italy were named as the largest consumers of Indian petroleum products. Croatia, Latvia, Romania, and Germany were reported to have seen the steepest increases in imports from the South Asian nation.
India is the second-largest oil refiner in Asia after China. The South Asian country buys crude oil from a number of suppliers and refines it to make products like jet fuel and diesel.
Roughly 40% of India’s crude oil imports come from Russia, Reuters reported last month, citing tanker data from industry sources. Between April and September of this year, Russia was India’s top oil supplier, having outperformed Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
New Delhi drastically increased purchases of discounted Russian seaborne crude after Western nations stopped buying from Moscow due to sanctions related to the conflict in Ukraine. However, EU officials have pointed out that some oil of Russian origin continues to arrive in the EU after being processed in third countries.
