China, India import record Russian crude oil in May: Reports

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - China and India imported record-high amount of Russian crude oil in May, according to reports on Thursday.

The world's top and third largest oil importers bought a combined 110 million barrels of crude from Russia, showed data from waterborne oil information provider Vortexa and commodity markets analytics firm Kpler, the reports said.

That amount is almost 10% higher compared to the month of April, they added.

The record level came before the critical meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, dubbed as OPEC+.

OPEC+ members, which include Russia, are expected to agree at their June 4 meeting to keep their current crude oil production levels steady.

Some OPEC members decided in April to voluntarily cut their crude oil production by a total of 1.66 million barrels per day (bpd) from May until the end of this year, which came on top of their existing cuts of a combined 2 million bpd that has been in place since October.

The members include Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Algeria and Oman – countries that need higher oil prices to support their economies that are highly dependent on revenues from crude exports.

The decision in October was the biggest production cut since the start of the coronavirus pandemic and represented around 2% of global oil demand.