Iran Press/ Europe: India is one of those nations that have been doubling down on Russian crude, defying international sanctions, and rising pressure from the West.
Between 74 million and 79 million barrels from the OPEC+ producer were in transit and floating storage over the past week, more than double the 27 million barrels just before the February war on Ukraine, according to Kpler.
According to the data and analytics company, Asia overtook Europe as the largest buyer for the first time last month, and that gap is set to widen in May.
The sharp jump in Russian oil in transit by sea underscores how the global energy trade has been thrown into turmoil by the invasion, with US, UK, and many EU companies turning their backs on its cargoes and forcing Moscow to look for buyers in Asia.
China and India have snapped up millions of barrels from the country to take advantage of hefty discounts on the flows.
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