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Reliance, India’s Energy Giant, Bought 8% of Russian Oil Exports Since 2022, Enriching Asia’s Richest Man
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Reliance Industries, India’s biggest conglomerate and operator of the world’s largest oil refining complex, has emerged as the top buyer of Russian crude since Western sanctions forced Moscow to redirect exports to Asia. The company is controlled by Asia’s richest businessman, Mukesh Ambani, whose fortune is estimated at $100 billion, according to The Moscow Times on September 26.
Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Reliance has purchased $33 billion worth of Russian oil, according to Indian government data reviewed by The Washington Post. That equals about 8% of Russia’s total oil exports over the period, valued at roughly $410 billion, estimates the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
“Anyone buying Russian oil is directly funding the Kremlin’s budget, which in turn finances the army,” said CREA analyst Vaibhav Raghunandan.
Before 2022, India bought almost no Russian oil. But steep discounts—driven by sanctions and the $60-per-barrel price cap—made the trade highly profitable. By August, about half of Reliance’s crude imports came from Russia, data from analytics firm Kpler shows. Reliance alone earned an extra $6 billion since 2022 from discounted crude, nearly 40% of the $16 billion windfall captured by Indian refiners, according to Energy Aspects. Private companies profited the most, thanks to higher fuel exports.
On average, India has paid $11 less per barrel of Russian crude since the war began, though discounts have narrowed in recent months. September cargoes carried only $2–3 off per barrel, prompting Indian refiners to demand bigger cuts to reflect growing risks.
The oil trade is now drawing sharper scrutiny from the West. In late August, US President Donald Trump doubled import tariffs on Indian goods to 50% and demanded New Delhi halt purchases from Moscow. The EU, meanwhile, banned imports of fuel refined from Russian oil in July. Bloomberg reported that Washington has made ending Russian oil imports a condition in ongoing trade talks with India, an unusual move in bilateral negotiations.
India has pushed back, calling the additional US tariffs “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable” and defending Russian imports as critical to its energy security. With fuel demand climbing at home, Indian refineries have no plans to scale back purchases, and the government has issued no order to restrict them.
Previously, India has told the US that cutting Russian oil imports would require allowing crude purchases from sanctioned suppliers Iran and Venezuela, according to a Bloomberg report on September 25.
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