Kolkata: A significant shift is taking place in oil products trade between Russia and India. In August, India emerged as the largest supplier of oil products to
Russia, which imported 172,000 tonnes of oil products during the month and India contributed about 70% of the total. India supplied approximately 120,000 tonnes of petrol to Russia, valued at around €780 million. This development comes amidst Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Russia purchased a total of 172,000 tonnes of oil products in August which has a total value of approximately €114 million.
The value of the petrol supplied by India was approximately €78 million. This situation is significant because Russia has historically been a major supplier of crude oil to India.
Why Russia has to buy fuel from India
Drone attacks by Ukraine on Russia’s energy infrastructure have impacted its domestic refining capacity. This has put pressure on the availability of petrol and other oil products within Russia. To meet domestic shortages, Russia is now purchasing refined oil products from other countries. India is playing a key role in this supply chain.
Supply sourced entirely from Vadinar refinery
According to CREA, the entire cargo sent to Russia was loaded from the Vadinar refinery in Gujarat. This supply was facilitated by Nayara Energy and purchased by the Russian company Rosneft. Rosneft holds a 49.13% stake in Nayara Energy. According to CREA, in the first eight months of 2026, the Vadinar refinery sourced 100% of its required crude oil from Russia. In 2025, this share was approximately 81%.
Crude oil imports declined
While India increased its supply of petrol to Russia, its imports of crude oil from Russia declined in August. According to CREA, India purchased crude oil worth approximately €4.1 billion from Russia in August. The figure was about €5.5 billion in July. This represents a drop of nearly 25% in Russian crude oil purchases within a single month. Despite this, India remained the world’s second-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels.
China still lifts maximum Russian crude
China was the largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in August, purchasing hydrocarbons worth approximately €8.4 billion. India ranked second, buying hydrocarbons worth around €4.8 billion. Crude oil accounted for the largest share of India’s purchases. Apart from this, India also purchased oil products worth approximately €258 million and coal worth €379 million from Russia.
