India remained the world’s second-largest purchaser of Russian fossil fuels in May, as refiners increased crude intake from Moscow even amid continuing sanctions pressure and efforts to diversify supply, according to the European research group Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
CREA estimated that India imported about 5.8 billion euros worth of Russian hydrocarbons during the month, with crude oil accounting for the overwhelming bulk of that total. Crude made up ro...
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ughly 83 per cent of India’s Russian energy imports, worth 4.8 billion euros, while oil products contributed 550 million euros and coal 429 million euros.
The think tank said India’s overall crude import volumes rose 8 per cent month on month in May, helped by a 21 per cent increase in purchases from Russia. Several major refining centres recorded sharper inflows of Russian barrels, including Vadinar in Gujarat, where unloaded volumes rose 36 per cent from April, and the Jamnagar complex, which saw deliveries increase 14 per cent.
State-run refiners also stepped up buying after resuming imports earlier this year. CREA said Russian crude arrivals at New Mangalore rose 13 per cent month on month, while imports at Visakhapatnam jumped 42 per cent. Both facilities had paused Russian purchases at the end of November 2025 before restarting in March. On India’s east coast, the Paradip refinery unloaded its highest volume of Russian crude in two years.
The pattern underlines how discounted Russian crude remains attractive to Indian refiners, even as New Delhi continues to source more oil from the Middle East, Africa and the United States. Since Western sanctions and trade restrictions redrew global energy flows after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, India has emerged as one of Moscow’s most important oil customers, using cheaper supply to help ease domestic fuel costs and support refinery margins.
CREA said China was still the largest buyer of Russian crude exports in May, taking 50 per cent, while India accounted for 36 per cent, followed by Turkiye at 6 per cent and the European Union at 5 per cent. In a wider breakdown of Russian fossil fuel earnings, the group said China remained the top global buyer, accounting for 38 per cent, or 7 billion euros, of Russia’s export revenues from the top five importers.
The report also pointed to continuing complexity in global sanctions enforcement. Despite an EU ban on imports of oil products made from Russian crude that took effect on January 21, 2026, CREA said 10 shipments of such products were unloaded at European ports in May. It added that refineries using Russian crude in India, Turkiye, Brunei and Georgia exported 641 million euros of oil products to sanctioning countries during the month, including the EU, Australia, the US and New Zealand.
According to CREA, some of those exports to the US came from Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery, the SOCAR-owned STAR refinery in Turkiye and Tupras’s Izmit refinery. The group said 39 per cent of STAR’s crude feedstock and 15 per cent of Jamnagar’s feedstock had come from Russia over the previous three months.
Source: Noah Wire Services
