Data from commercial and industrial sources showed that India's imports of crude oil from Russia last July fell for the first time since March 2022, along with its total purchases, while supplies from Saudi Arabia rose for the first time in five months.
Indian oil refineries increased supplies from Saudi Arabia in light of attractive prices, while the prices of Russian supplies rose due to strong demand, according to Reuters.
The data revealed that India, the third largest importer and consumer of oil in the world, generally received oil shipments of 3.2% less in July at 4.63 million barrels per day compared to June, with some refineries planning to carry out maintenance work as of this August.
The data also showed that Indian oil imports from Saudi Arabia rose 25.6% to 824,700 barrels per day last July, the highest level in three months, after the kingdom lowered the official selling price in June and July compared to May 2022.
Saudi Arabia ranks third in the list of suppliers to India.
On the other hand, India received shipments of Russian oil amounting to 877.4 thousand barrels per day in July, down about 7.3% from last June.
Moscow remains India's largest oil supplier after Iraq.
