By: OrePulse

India's crude imports from the Middle East climbed 32% month-on-month in September, reaching 2.8 million barrels per day, the highest level since February, as more oil moved out of the Strait of Hormuz, according to tanker-tracking data.

Middle Eastern supply accounted for 54% of India's total crude imports last month. Gulf producers increased shipments through ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman, while Indian refiners stepped up their purchases of spot cargoes, the data showed. The shift marks a sharp rebound after a period in which flows out of the Gulf had run below earlier levels.

Russia remained India's single largest crude supplier in September, but its deliveries fell 14% from the previous month to 1.8 million barrels per day. Moscow's share of India's import basket narrowed to 33.5% in September, down from 46.6% in August, as refiners redirected more of their buying toward Gulf barrels instead.

The shift reflects both the recovery in flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the primary export route for crude leaving the Gulf, and a narrowing price gap between Russian and Middle Eastern grades. Russia's Urals crude, loaded at Baltic ports, has climbed close to parity with Middle Eastern benchmarks in recent weeks, eroding the discount that had previously made Russian barrels more attractive to Indian buyers than Gulf supply.

Competition from China has also weighed on India's access to Russian oil. China has increased its own purchases of Russian crude after losing access to Iranian supply, putting Beijing in more direct competition with India for the same barrels, tanker-tracking data showed. That added demand from China has reduced the volumes of discounted Russian crude available to Indian refiners even as Moscow has sought to keep its exports flowing to Asian buyers.

Refiners in India are likely to keep favoring larger volumes of Middle Eastern crude in the coming months, according to an official at one Indian refinery. The official pointed to competitive pricing for Gulf grades and to shorter shipping times from the Gulf of Oman to India, compared with the longer voyages required for cargoes loaded at Russia's Baltic ports, as reasons the buying pattern is likely to continue.

September's rebound brought Indian purchases of Gulf crude back to levels last seen in February, before output from the region available to India had been constrained for several months. The figures point to Middle Eastern producers reclaiming ground with India, long one of Asia's largest buyers of crude on the open market, as Hormuz-linked supply continues to normalize and the relative economics of Russian barrels become less favorable next to Gulf alternatives.

Taken together, the September data illustrate a broader rebalancing in India's crude sourcing: a swing back toward traditional Gulf suppliers and away from the discounted Russian barrels that had dominated Indian import flows over the past several years, even though Russia has not lost its position as India's top single source of crude.