India dials Saudi as Russian oil imports fall to 11-month low

India increased imports of Saudi oil in December, while its purchases of Russian oil dropped to an 11-month low due to payment issues. Vessel tracking data revealed that at least five shipments of the sweet Sokol variant were redirected to other destinations.

Indian Oil Corp, which was set to get the Sokol oil, had to withdraw from its inventory and buy from the Middle East to make up the shortfall, sources told Reuters last month. Top refiner IOC is the only state-run firm with an annual deal to buy a variety of Russian grades, including Sokol, from Russian oil major Rosneft.

In December, India's oil imports from Russia saw a decline ranging from 16% to 22%, according to calculations by Reuters based on data from flow tracking agencies Vortexa, Kpler, and LSEG. Conversely, its imports of Saudi oil increased by approximately 4%, as indicated by data from Kpler and Vortexa.

LSEG data shows India's monthly Russian oil imports declining by 22% to 1.21 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, while Kpler shows a drop of 16% to 1.39 million bpd.

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"Perhaps it's still too early to write off India's appetite for the Sakhalin grade (Sokol)," said Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at Kpler, adding that three new Sokol cargoes on the NS Antarctic, Jaguar and Vostochny Prospect were heading for India.

Aframax ships NS Century, NS Commander, Sakhalin Island, Lityny Prospect and Krymsk; and a very large crude carrier Nellis carrying Russian Sokol oil for IOC were sailing for the Strait of Malacca, Kpler and LSEG ship tracking data showed.

The NS Century faced sanctions imposed by the United States in November for the sale of Russian oil at a price above the cap of $60 a barrel fixed by the G7 grouping of nations and had been floating near Colombo since."China appears to be the final solution for some cargoes," said Katona.

With inputs from agencies.