India’s Russian crude purchases plunge as Reliance stops January imports

Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), India’s largest refining company, announced that it does not expect any deliveries of Russian crude oil in January, a move likely to reduce India’s Russian oil imports to their lowest levels in years.

“Reliance Industries’s Jamnagar refinery has not received any cargo of Russian oil in the past three weeks and is not expecting any Russian crude oil deliveries in January,” the company said in a statement posted on X, denying recent media reports claiming that three vessels carrying Russian crude were en route to its Jamnagar facility.

The Jamnagar refinery, the world’s largest refining complex, was India’s biggest buyer of Russian crude last year. The announcement comes shortly after US President Donald Trump warned on January 3 that the United States could impose additional import tariffs on India in response to its Russian oil purchases.

Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022, India has emerged as the largest buyer of discounted Russian seaborne crude. However, these purchases have drawn criticism from Western nations, which argue that oil revenues help fund Moscow’s military operations. In 2023, the US doubled import tariffs on Indian goods to 50% as a punitive measure, and trade negotiations between the two countries remain ongoing.

According to sources cited by Reuters, Indian authorities have requested refiners to disclose weekly data on Russian and US oil purchases. Preliminary indications suggest that India’s imports of Russian crude could fall below 1 million barrels per day as New Delhi seeks to secure a trade deal with Washington.

Stricter sanctions imposed by the US and EU have already slowed Russian oil flows to India. Imports fell to a three-year low of approximately 1.2 million bpd in December 2025, down roughly 40% from a June peak of 2 million bpd, according to analytics firm Kpler and industry sources.

With Reliance halting its purchases, January deliveries of Russian crude to India are expected to be limited to Russia-backed Nayara Energy and state-run refiners Indian Oil Corp (IOC.NS) and Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL.NS). Nayara, which operates a 400,000-bpd refinery, is likely to be the primary buyer, as EU sanctions and other suppliers’ withdrawal have constrained alternatives, government sources told Reuters.

By Vafa Guliyeva