India’s crude oil purchases from Russia more than tripled to 5.3 billion euro in March as volumes doubled and a surge in oil prices pushed up the import bill.
European think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), in a report, said after a drop in purchases in February, India was back to a buying binge in March.
Coal (EUR 337 million) and oil products (EUR 178.5 million) constituted the remainder of their monthly imports.
In February, India was the third largest importer, purchasing Russian hydrocarbons worth 1.8 billion euro. Crude oil constituted the largest share at 81% (EUR 1.4 billion), followed by coal (EUR 223 million) and oil products (EUR 121 million).
“While India’s total crude imports recorded a 4% reduction in March, Russian imports doubled,” CREA said.
The spurt in volumes followed the United States granting a one-month sanctions waiver on Russian oil, covering cargoes already at sea and shipments on previously sanctioned vessels. The move was to ease prices that had spiked after Washington waged war against Iran.
The waiver led to state refiners, which had previously paused Russian oil purchases, resuming imports from Moscow.
“The biggest shift (in March) was in state-owned refineries’ imports from Russia, which saw a massive 148% month-on-month increase,” CREA said.
“Their imports were in fact 72% higher than March 2025, presumably due to Russian barrels being more available in the spot market, which serves as the primary source of imports for them.”
“Private refineries, meanwhile, registered a more modest 66% month-on-month increase, but remained lower than the same time last year,” it said.
In March, China bought 51% of Russia’s crude exports, followed by India (38%), Turkiye (6%), and the European Union (1.8%).
In February, India was the third-largest importer of Russian oil behind China and Turkiye.
According to CREA, Russia is heavily reliant on Asian markets to sell its oil, with 90% of its total exports of crude delivered to China and India in the first quarter of 2026.
Despite the EU’s ban on imports of oil products made from Russian crude on January 21, 2026, 14 shipments of oil products from refineries using Russian crude – and identified as high risk according to EU guidance – have unloaded at EU ports in March.
France was the largest recipient of shipments from these refineries running on Russian crude, unloading four shipments in March, followed by Cyprus (three shipments).
In March, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, and the Netherlands also received two shipments each from refineries in non-sanctioning countries that partially process Russian crude.
Refineries in India, Turkiye, Brunei, and Georgia that use Russian crude exported EUR 830 million of oil products to sanctioning countries in March 2026. The importers included the EU (EUR 304 million), Australia (EUR 332 million), and the US (EUR 168 million). An estimated EUR 188 million of these products were refined from Russian crude.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026