Four out of India’s seven largest refiners are now in the market for Russian crude as deep discounts push buyers to seek out non-sanctioned barrels, even as heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd stays away.
State-run Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp have bought a total of around 10 cargoes of non-sanctioned Russian crude, including Urals, over the last few days, according to people involved in the purchases. Hindustan Petroleum Corp., meanwhile, has been looking for supply to be delivered in January, said the people, who could not be named as they are not authorized to speak publicly.
Including Nayara Energy — which has continued to take Russian crude, even after being blacklisted by Europe — those four processors accounted for just over 60 per cent of India’s oil imports this year, according to analytics firm Kpler. The companies did not immediately respond to emailed queries.
Missing, however, is Reliance — until recently the single largest purchaser of Russian crude in India. The conglomerate is now avoiding crude even under its term contract with Rosneft PJSC, equivalent to 500,000 barrels per day, eager to avoid the risk of running afoul of US or European sanctions, the people said.
India has been engaged in a challenging balancing act for months, trying to maintain its access to cheap Russian oil and to project geopolitical independence, all without angering either Washington or Brussels. But while India’s imports of Moscow’s crude will drop into next year as expected — due to the blacklisting of both Rosneft and Lukoil PJSC — the trade is expected to persist at a lower level.
Russian crude is fetching around $40–$45 a barrel, according to traders in India.
India imported the equivalent of more than 2 million barrels of oil per day from Russia at the peak of this year’s purchases in June. That is expected to dip to 1.3 million in December, when the total is still helped by cargoes booked before the curbs come into place, and then below that in January.
It is unclear whether those muted volumes will be enough to satisfy a Trump administration that has accused India of funding President Vladimir Putin’s war and demanded the two cut ties. A long-awaited trade deal between New Delhi and Washington has yet to be finalized.
Reliance, a vital swing buyer, is set to receive its last Urals cargo with the Aqua Titan, due to deliver to Jamnagar on Dec. 17, Kpler data show, with no more tankers expected beyond that. Since many vessels don’t signal their final destination before entering or exiting the Red Sea, however, it is possible that other cargoes could yet be in transit, said Sumit Ritolia, lead analyst refining and modeling at Kpler said.
Should Reliance stay away, it would leave a significant amount of crude for Rosneft to sell elsewhere.
“While other refiners can partially offset the decline, they are unlikely to fully replace the volumes Reliance was able to absorb at its peak,” Ritolia said. “At this stage, we see India’s imports of Russian crude in the region of 1-1.2 million barrels a day.
Smaller processors including Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd. have also halted Russian purchases altogether.
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Published on December 10, 2025
