The expert explained the growing demand for oil in India

India will become the main engine of the oil market, said Sergey Tereshkin, CEO of Open Oil Market. He told Izvestia on March 13 what is affecting the growing demand for oil in this country.

In its March oil market report, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) maintained its short—term forecast for demand growth: global oil demand will increase by 1.45 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2025 and by 1.43 million bpd in 2026.

Tereshkin noted that India will become as important an oil market player as China next year. According to OPEC's forecast, demand in both countries will increase by 270 thousand bpd in 2026.

"At the same time, the potential for demand growth in India is significantly higher in the period up to 2030. It's all about the speed of the spread of electric transport. According to the International Energy Agency, electric cars and plug-in hybrids accounted for only 2% of new passenger car sales in India in 2023, compared with 38% in China. China is a recognized leader in the extraction and processing of metals for "new" energy, including lithium, cobalt and graphite. This provides a foundation in the development of electric transport, which India does not yet have," the expert explained.

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The possible lifting of the ceiling on our fuel will increase its competitiveness and simplify negotiations with importers.

In addition, according to him, the difference in the level of urbanization will also affect. If in China the share of the urban population in 2023 was 65%, then in India it was only 36%. As Tereshkin explained, reducing this gap will ensure additional demand for gasoline and diesel in land transport, lubricants in construction, jet fuel in air transportation, and naphtha in petrochemicals.

"As for China, given China's role in the global economy, electrification of land and gasification of freight transport will be one of the reasons for the stabilization of oil prices in the second half of the 2020s," the expert concluded.

Earlier, on March 12, Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, an expert and lecturer at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia that trade turnover between Russia and India had grown significantly, including due to increased exports of Russian energy products, primarily oil. India buys about 1.7–1.8 million barrels per day, of which some are used for domestic consumption and the other is exported.