Russian Oil Hits Record 50% of India’s Imports as Moscow Buys Gasoline Back

Russia's crude accounted for a record 50.83% of India's oil imports in July 2026, surpassing half of the country's purchases for the first time and reaching 2.47 million barrels per day.

The figures were reported by Reuters on August 14, drawn from data supplied by trade sources.

India's July intake of Russian oil climbed 62.4% from a year earlier, though it slipped 4.8% from June's record of 2.6 million barrels per day. Russia remained India's largest crude supplier across the April-to-July period, while the United Arab Emirates overtook Iraq for second place after offering large spot volumes since leaving OPEC in April.

The data also showed that Russia's share of Indian crude imports hit a record 43.25% in the first four months of the financial year that began in April, up from roughly 37% a year earlier.

The gain came largely at the expense of Middle Eastern suppliers, whose combined share fell to about 30% from 43%. Latin American oil rose from 3.5% to 12.7%, driven by higher volumes from Brazil and Venezuela.

India depends on imports for more than 90% of its crude needs, leaving it exposed to shifts in global supply. Indian refiners began trimming Russian purchases in January to avoid higher US tariffs as New Delhi negotiated a trade deal with Washington. Disruptions to Middle Eastern supply triggered by the war in Iran, however, pushed them back toward discounted Russian barrels.

That buying now faces fresh uncertainty. The US Senate passed legislation this month to impose 100% tariffs on purchasers of Russian oil, tightening economic pressure on Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Reuters noted that the House of Representatives has yet to approve the measure, leaving its effect on Indian refiners unresolved.

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War in Ukraine

Ukraine Just Completed Its Biggest Deep-Strike Campaign Against Russia Yet. Here’s What It Achieved

Aug 05, 2026 15:57

Ukraine's sustained strikes on Russian oil refineries help explain the surplus crude now flowing to India. With refining units damaged or offline, Moscow cannot process as much oil into fuel for its home market, freeing more barrels for export through ports that remain operational.

Reuters separately reported that shipments from Russia's western ports hit a record in June and remained elevated into July as outages forced Moscow to lift export restrictions.

The same disruptions cut Russian gasoline output to about 65% of capacity, prompting Moscow to import at least 60,000 tonnes of gasoline from India amid rationing and price increases.

That campaign reached one of its sharpest points in early July, when a long-range drone strike halted the Omsk oil refinery, Russia's largest plant and its top gasoline producer, at a site deep in Siberia. The shutdown knocked out primary crude distillation units that accounted for most of the facility's capacity and was expected to deepen nationwide fuel shortages at a plant that had processed around 440,000 barrels a day in 2024.

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