Moscow: India continues buying 1.75 million barrels of Russian oil daily

India has maintained its imports of Russian crude oil at roughly 1.75 million barrels per day in recent months, according to Russia’s Ambassador to India, Denis Alipov.

Speaking in an interview with the television channel Russia-24, Alipov said, “If you look at the statistics for October, India continues to buy significant volumes of Russian raw materials — at about the same level as recently, around 1.75 million barrels per day.”

He added that this figure fluctuates slightly from month to month. “This figure, it was jumping before, it is jumping now — in some months more, in some months less — on average at about this level,” Alipov said.

Russia remains one of India’s key suppliers of crude oil. In September, Russian oil accounted for 33.3% of India’s total imports of this commodity. That month, India imported about 1.6 million barrels per day from Russia — around 6% less than in August, when purchases stood at 1.7 million barrels per day. Overall, New Delhi imported roughly 4.8 million barrels of oil in September.

As the world’s third-largest oil consumer, India relies on imports for more than 85% of its crude requirements. The country’s refineries buy oil from more than 30 nations, with Russia — primarily through Rosneft and LUKOIL — supplying up to 1.75 million barrels per day at its peak.

Impact of US sanctions

Amid tightening Western sanctions, India’s state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has announced a tender for the supply of 24 million barrels of crude oil from North and South America for the January–March 2026 period. The move comes after Indian refineries temporarily suspended new orders of Russian crude due to fresh US sanctions targeting Rosneft and LUKOIL.

According to IOC, the tender aims to gauge market interest and ensure supply diversification in case of further reductions in Russian exports. The company expects responses from potential suppliers today.

India’s crude imports from the United States surged in October 2025 to their highest level since 2022 — a trend reflecting New Delhi’s efforts to diversify energy sources, lessen dependence on Russian oil, and ease trade tensions with the Trump administration.

According to data from the energy analytics firm Kpler, the monthly average of US oil exports to India in 2025 has been about 300,000 barrels per day. As of October 27, India had imported around 540,000 barrels per day of US crude — the highest level in nearly three years — with total October imports projected at 5.775 million barrels. Kpler also expects shipments of up to 450,000 barrels per day in November.

By Tamilla Hasanova