Russia seizes market share from OPEC's heavyweights in the Indian oil market

30 Jun 2022 , 11:30 AM

Watch out Saudi Arabia and Iraq–Russia is rapidly gaining market share in the Indian oil industry and may soon overtake them as the leading suppliers to the massive Asian consumer.

According to tanker monitoring data collated by Bloomberg and two oil analytics companies, Moscow is on target to deliver between 1 million and 1.2 million barrels per day to the third-largest oil importer in the world this month despite losing many of its typical European customers.

That would put it much ahead of Saudi Arabia and roughly on par with, or slightly above, Iraq. Baghdad in particular will be uneasy about the increase in flows because Iraqi oil has been forced to provide lower prices in order to compete for market share in Asia.
Because some European businesses stopped purchasing, flows to Asia increased, placing pressure on Russia to find new markets.

The vessel-tracking data varies between providers, depending on many presumptions and underlying cargo information. Nevertheless, data from Kpler, Vortexa, and Bloomberg all highlight the hegemonic role Russia has taken in India. India has justified the Russian acquisitions, stating that it is in the country’s best interest to obtain less expensive oil.

In the world’s largest oil-consuming region, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have seen their market share reduced by Russia’s hegemonic entry into the Indian and Chinese markets.

Tracking data shows that since April, the cumulative deliveries from the two countries to India have decreased by around 500,000 barrels per day as Russian shipments have increased.