Author: Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (Reuters) – India’s imports of Russian oil fell to the lowest in two years in December as Western sanctions forced refiners to adopt alternatives, trade data showed, with OPEC’s share of imports rising to an 11-month high.
Lower imports of Russian oil, sold at discounts, could hit refiners’ profits in the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer and force them to turn to suppliers in the Middle East, the United States and South America.
Data show that stricter sanctions from the United States and the European Union have slowed Russian oil flows to India, with imports in December falling by about 22% from the previous month to 1.38 million barrels per day. Russia’s share fell to 27.4%, the lowest level since January 2023, while OPEC’s share rose to 53.2%.
Reliance Industries, India’s largest buyer of Russian oil, stopped taking deliveries of crude oil under a deal with Rosneft in the last 10 days of December, data showed, with its imports from Russia falling to an almost two-year low.
Meanwhile, state refiners continue to purchase Russian oil from unsanctioned suppliers.
Russia remains the largest supplier
Despite the decline, Russia remained India’s largest oil supplier in December and the first nine months of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, followed by Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
However, some cargo arriving in December was unloaded in January, data showed.
Sumit Ritola, principal research analyst for refining and modeling at Kpler, said India’s oil imports from Russia are expected to average about 1.2 million to 1.4 million barrels per day in January, and the pullback looks more like a short-term disruption caused by compliance issues rather than India moving away from Russia entirely.
To track oil purchases by refineries, the Indian government is seeking details of weekly crude purchases from Russia and the United States
OPEC shares rise
OPEC’s share of India’s crude oil imports rose to 50% in 2025 from 49% a year earlier, while Russia’s share fell to 33.3% from 36% in 2024.
After the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022, India became the largest buyer of discounted Russian seaborne crude oil.
The purchases sparked a backlash from Western countries, which have imposed sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, arguing that oil revenue helps fund Moscow’s war.
Last year, the United States doubled import tariffs on Indian goods to 50% as punishment for its large purchases of Russian oil. The two countries are currently negotiating a potential trade deal.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Florence Tan and Alexander Smith)