India's oil imports from Russia hit 11-month high in June amid war fears

Business Standard

a day ago

India's import of crude oil from Russia rose to an 11-month high in June as refiners topped up tanks amid the Israel-Iran war, analysts said.
India imported 2.08 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude in June, the highest since July 2024, according to vessel tracking data from global commodity market analytics firm Kpler.
"While India's global imports of crude oil dropped by 6 per cent in June, Russian volumes saw an 8 per cent month-on-month rise to their highest levels since July 2024," European think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said.
"More than half of these imports from Russia were made by three refineries in India, which also export refined products to G7+ countries." India imports more than 85 per cent of its requirement of crude oil, which is turned into fuels like petrol and diesel in refineries. Traditionally, the Middle East was the main source, but Russia has been the mainstay supplier for nearly three years now.
After much of the West shunned Russian crude following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia began offering steep discounts to attract alternative buyers. Indian refiners seized the opportunity, turning Russia, once a marginal supplier, into India's largest source of crude oil, overtaking traditional suppliers from West Asia. Russia now accounts for as much as 40 per cent of India's oil imports.
In June, India imported approximately 8,93,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Iraq - its second-largest supplier - marking a 17.2 per cent month-on-month decline. Saudi Arabia followed with 5,81,000 bpd (largely unchanged from May), while imports from the UAE rose 6.5 per cent to 4,90,000 bpd.
Iraq accounted for 18.5 per cent of India's oil imports, followed by Saudi Arabia at 12.1 per cent and the UAE at 10.2 per cent. The US remained India's fifth-largest crude supplier, with import volumes of approximately 3,03,000 bpd and a 6.3 per cent market share, according to Kpler.
CREA said China bought 47 per cent of Russia's crude exports in June, followed by India (38 per cent), the EU (6 per cent), and Turkiye (6 per cent).
"In June, India remained the second-largest purchaser of Russian fossil fuels, importing fossil fuels worth 4.5 billion euro. Crude oil accounted for 80 per cent (3.6 billion euro) of these imports," it said.
Separately, S&P Global Commodity Insights India's crude oil inflows from the US surged more than 50 per cent in the first half of 2025 compared to H1 2024, while flows from Brazil rose 80 per cent over the same period, signalling a growing affinity of its refiners for non-OPEC crudes as New Delhi looks to widen its source of supplies.
According to data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea, India imported 2,71,000 bpd of crude oil from the US in the year's first half, up around 51 per cent from 1,80,000 bpd imported in the same period in 2024.
Indian refiners have been used to relatively large volumes of US crude in the past, but volumes had slowed down over the past two to three years when India turned to Russian crude.
India's appetite for US crude is again showing signs of revival amid renewed diplomacy with the new US government.
Crude inflows from Brazil posted the sharpest growth in the six-month period, rising about 80 per cent year-over-year to 73,000 bpd from nearly 41,000 bpd.
Russia retained the position as India's top crude supplier in January-June, with shipments of 1.67 million bpd, up marginally from 1.66 million bpd in the same period a year earlier.