India has hit a new monthly record for Russian crude oil imports in July, strengthening its position as Moscow’s key energy partner despite ongoing Western sanctions and disruptions in global oil markets.
India’s imports of Russian crude oil hit a fresh monthly record in July, extending a run of heavy purchases that has made the country one of Moscow’s most important energy customers even as Western sanctions continue to squeeze Russia’s export market.
According to data compiled by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, Indian buyers imported Russian crude worth €5.5 billion in July, up 2.1% from June. Crude made up 87% of India’s total Russian fossil fuel purchases for the month, underlining how dominant oil has become in the bilateral trade.
The increase builds on a strong June, when India bought €4.5 billion of Russian crude, equal to 83% of its total Russian fossil fuel imports of €5.5 billion, according to reporting by Livemint and the Economic Times. Those gains came alongside a broader rise in India’s overall crude imports, which energy intelligence firm Kpler said also set records in June.
India’s reliance on Russian supply has risen sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when discounted barrels became available after many European buyers pulled back. The US Energy Information Administration has said Russia supplied less than 100,000 barrels a day to India in 2021, or about 2.5% of imports, before volumes climbed to about 740,000 barrels a day in 2022 and nearly 1.8 million barrels a day in 2023. Reuters-style market data cited in the supplied reports showed Indian refiners took a record 2.8 million barrels a day in July 2026, or about 55.5% of total crude imports.
The latest jump was driven more by smaller receiving terminals than by India’s biggest Russian crude hubs. Imports through HMEL Mundra rose 58% from June, while volumes at Indian Oil’s Vadinar SMPL terminal increased 35% and Mumbai shipments climbed 37%. Jamnagar, one of the world’s largest refining complexes, was flat month on month, while receipts at Paradip fell 22%, suggesting the record was built on a wider spread of entry points rather than on a single port.
CREA said India was the second-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in July 2026, taking €6.4 billion in total, of which crude accounted for the vast majority. The group also said Indian refineries that process Russian crude continue to matter beyond direct imports because they export refined products into markets that have restricted Russian energy purchases. Five cargoes from Indian refineries using Russian crude were unloaded at EU ports in July despite the bloc’s ban on such products, while US shipments also traced back to Jamnagar. At the same time, Russia’s broader oil product exports weakened, with loadings falling to their lowest level on record, highlighting the contrast between resilient crude sales to Asia and the pressure on Moscow’s refinery sector.
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