The demand for gasoline in India rose to its highest degree in not less than 24 years in February, partly as a consequence of Russian oil imported at a hefty low cost.

Fuel consumption rose by greater than 5% to 4.82 million barrels per day final month, marking a fifteenth consecutive year-on-year rise, Reuters reported. The sale of petrol rose 8.9% year-on-year to 2.8 million tonnes and that of diesel by 7.5% to six.98 million tonnes. The consumption of aviation gasoline climbed greater than 43% to 0.62 million tonnes.

This rise underlines sturdy consumption inside India and refining Russian crude at a revenue, in line with Viktor Katona, the lead crude analyst at commodity analytics agency Kpler.

Russian crude imports at a file excessive

India’s Russian crude imports hit a file excessive in February at 1.6 million barrels per day, overshadowing the imports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia mixed. From a mere 0.2% in February 2022, it has swollen to 35% in only a yr since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Indian refiners, who seldom purchased Russian oil due to pricey logistics, have begun paying for Russian oil in dirhams by Dubai-based merchants, as an alternative of the US greenback.

This has finally turned Russia into India’s key provider of crude oil. Despite a value cap imposed by G7 nations on Russian oil in December final yr, Indian refiners have been shopping for it at costs that cowl even supply. This is a win-win for India, which imports 85% of its gasoline requirement, in addition to G7.

Last month, Geoffrey R Pyatt, the US assistant secretary of state for power, mentioned India is snapping up Russian crude at about $15-a barrel discount, and that is “furthering the policy of our G7 coalition…in seeking to reduce Russian revenues.”

Government knowledge means that India’s gasoline demand is probably going to increase by 4.7% within the coming monetary yr to 233.8 million tonnes from the revised estimate of 222.9 million tonnes for the continuing fiscal yr.