Russia To Supply India With 500,000 Barrels Daily in Record-Breaking $13 Billion Oil Deal

Russian state oil company Rosneft and Indian private oil refiner Reliance Industries have signed a ten-year contract to supply 500,000 barrels per day of Russian crude oil and fuel. This agreement marks the largest energy deal between the two countries to date.

Under the terms of the deal, Rosneft will deliver 80,000 to 100,000 metric tons of crude oil and approximately 100,000 tons of fuel oil to India each month. These shipments will be supplied to Reliance’s refining complex in Jamnagar, the largest oil refinery in the world, and are valued at an estimated $13 billion annually—equivalent to nearly 0.5% of the global oil market supply.

The deal will account for roughly half of Rosneft’s seaborne oil exports from Russian ports, according to Reuters.

India has emerged as the largest buyer of Russian seaborne oil, with Russian oil accounting for over a third of its total crude imports, according to Reuters. Previously, the EU was Russia’s largest buyer of oil, until it imposed sanctions on Russian oil exports in response to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

India, which has not imposed any sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, has been able to purchase Russian oil at prices lower than competing grades.

In 2024, Reliance had an agreement with Rosneft for the purchase of 3 million barrels of crude a month. Rosneft had also regularly been supplying crude oil to Reliance via intermediaries.

The first deliveries under the new agreement are scheduled to begin in January 2025 and will continue for the next ten years, with the possibility of extending the deal for an additional decade.

On December 2, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit India early next year at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.