India's Russian oil imports - the reality
While writing about and discussing the Ukraine war in my blog series, a comment I hear most often about India’s position, is that India is: Cosying up to Putin by buying Russian oil, or India is deliberately violating sanctions by buying oil – and financing Russia’s military. Those who do not attribute any malafide intention on India’s part claim India is doing so to avail of big discounts on Russian oil. This is not just incorrect, but hides the more cynical economic interests of the countries sanctioning Russia. Before analyzing Indian oil purchases from Russia, a few basic points for readers: Oil is exported in crude or refined form. Since refineries are often located close to where the end product is consumed, oil exporters usually have lower refining capacity than their crude producing capacity. Oil price movements have been the subject of innumerable studies. In general: Oil demand generally increases less than GDP growth. It is reducing in advanced economies where ...