How India plans to continue buying Russian oil despite sanctions | Energy news

India plans to continue buying cheap crude oil from Russia, despite sanctions imposed on major Russian oil companies by the United States and Europe.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin last week at the annual Russian-Indian bilateral summit in New Delhi, during which Putin said: “Russia is ready for uninterrupted fuel deliveries to India.”

India is the second-largest consumer of Russian oil after China and faces intense pressure from the United States to stop buying it. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump’s administration doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50%, in part because of the problem, Trump said at the time.

Here’s what we know about India’s imports of Russian oil and how New Delhi has managed to keep its oil purchases from Moscow afloat despite sanctions and pressure.

How did India become such a big consumer of Russian oil?

In 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian oil accounted for about 2.5% of India’s total oil imports, according to US Energy Information Administration figures released in February this year.

After the start of the war, Europe and the United States began imposing sanctions on Russian companies in order to economically isolate Moscow.

In total, since the start of the war, the United States and its allies have imposed more than 21,000 sanctions on Russia, targeting individuals, media, the military, and sectors such as energy, aviation, shipbuilding, and telecommunications.

But most importantly, in December 2022, the Group of Seven (G7), the European Union and Australia capped the price of Russian oil at $60 per barrel, apparently to reduce Russia’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine. The cap was later reduced to around $48 by the EU and the UK. This has made Russian oil more attractive to buyers, including India and China. Russia has sold crude oil to India at deeply discounted rates, falling as low as $35 per barrel in March 2022.

In contrast, Brent crude oil is currently trading at around $62.50 per barrel.

How much oil does India buy from Russia?

In October 2024, Indian purchases of Russian crude oil reached an all-time high of $5.8 billion.

At the end of the month, the United States imposed new sanctions on hundreds of Russian individuals and entities. These include Russian shipowners, ships and traders involved in the transportation of Russian crude.

In November 2024, India’s crude oil imports from Russia fell to $3.9 billion and in December 2024, India imported even less oil from Russia, worth $3.2 billion.

However, in January 2025, India’s imports of Russian oil from Russia rebounded to $3.6 billion. Since then, import volumes have fluctuated.

What pressure is India facing to stop buying Russian oil?

In August this year, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said India’s purchases of Russian crude oil were financing Moscow’s war in Ukraine and must stop.

“India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,” Navarro wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times.

In August, Washington also doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50 percent to punish India for buying Russian oil.

In October, Trump claimed that Modi had pledged to stop buying oil from Russia.

“So I was not happy about India buying oil, and he assured me today that they would not buy oil from Russia,” Trump told reporters at a White House event.

“It’s a big step. Now we’re going to get China to do the same thing.”

But in an interview with Indian television channels during the annual Russia-India bilateral summit on December 4, Putin mocked Trump’s claims. “The United States itself still buys nuclear fuel from us for its own nuclear power plants,” he said. In 2023, U.S. imports of enriched uranium from Russia will reach a high in more than a decade, worth about $1.2 billion.

If the United States has the right to buy Russian fuel, he added, India should enjoy the “same privilege.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated this sentiment in a call with reporters on Monday this week, when he said: “India, as a sovereign state, conducts foreign trade operations and purchases energy resources where it is beneficial for India, and from what we understand, our Indian partners will continue this policy to ensure their economic interests.” »

Why have sanctions on Russian oil caused an increase in Indian imports?

On October 22, Trump imposed US sanctions on two of Russia’s largest oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil. It was the first time during his second term as US president that Washington imposed sanctions linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The US sanctions came on the same day that the EU approved its own 19th sanctions package against Russia, and a week after the UK also sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil.

The US sanctions were to come into effect on November 21, after which purchases from US-sanctioned entities Rosneft and Lukoil would be restricted, giving Indian importers a window to increase their purchases before the deadline.

A day after the U.S. sanctions were announced, state refiners in India, including Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Hindustan Petroleum Corp, began reviewing their purchases of Russian oil, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source with direct knowledge of the matter.

In October, India imported $3.55 billion worth of crude oil from Russia, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry reported by Indian media. Although this figure is not as high as the $5.8 billion value of crude oil that India purchased from Russia in October 2024, it shows that India is still buying more oil than before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

However, in early November, India increased its imports of Russian oil. India’s crude oil imports increased by 220,000 barrels per day, to 5 million barrels per day, according to energy market information firm Vortexa. This is a seasonal peak, almost matching the record of 5.05 million barrels per day set in March 2025.

The Indian refining sector consists of three broad categories of operators: national oil companies (NOCs), which are public sector refiners; Reliance Industries, a private company with a diversified crude supply strategy; and Nayara Energy, a Russian-majority private refiner.

The EU sanctioned Nayara in July 2025 for her ties to Russia. Since then, however, it has doubled its purchases of Russian-only crude, significantly increasing its purchases.

With sanctions already in place, the company appears to see no harm in increasing its dependence on Russian oil. By the end of October, Nayara had increased crude processing at its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat to 90-93 percent of capacity, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources. This figure fell to 70 to 80 percent of its capacity in July following EU sanctions.

But overall, it is clear that India continues to import Russian oil. Even though sanctions have led India to reduce its purchases of Russian oil to some extent, New Delhi is still expected to buy 600,000 barrels of oil per day in January. That figure could be much lower than the 1.6 million to 1.8 million barrels imported in recent months, but not zero, Bloomberg reported.

How will India continue to import Russian oil?

Rosneft and Lukoil account for about 60 percent of Russian oil purchased by India, Reuters reported in October, citing Prashant Vashisht, vice president of ICRA Ltd, an Indian credit rating agency. Citing Russian government agencies, S&P Global said Rosneft accounts for nearly half of all Russian oil production and 6% of global production.

India will therefore have to turn to other sources for its Russian oil imports. This will likely include companies such as Surgutneftegaz, which has never been fully affected by sanctions.

India has also purchased oil from Gazprom Neft, which faces sectoral rather than total sanctions. This means that the United States has placed limits on certain activities, but has not completely banned doing business with the company.

India could also buy Russian oil through a shadow fleet of older tankers, using non-Western insurance and flags, which can often circumvent sanctions.

Between January and September this year, India imported 5.4 million tonnes of Russian oil carried by 30 ships sailing under false flags, according to a report published in November by the European think tank Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).