India’s crude oil imports from the United States climbed to their highest level since 2022 in October, a move seen as part of New Delhi’s effort to diversify supplies away from Russia and ease trade tensions with the Trump administration.

India’s crude imports from the US reached 540,000 barrels per day as of October 27 – the highest since 2022, according to data from Kpler. October is likely to close with near 575,000 bpd, and November looks to book around 400,000-450,000 bpd, per US export data – a sharp jump from the year-to-date average of around 300,000 bpd.

The increase was economics-driven, supported by a strong arbitrage window, a wider Brent-WTI spread, and no Chinese demand, which made WTI Midland competitive on a delivered basis for Indian refiners, according to Sumit Ritolia,

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