India remains second-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in Jan at $2.59 bn

India remains second largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in Jan at €2.2 billion

• India bought €2.2 billion of Russian energy in January 2026
• Crude oil made up 78% of India's Russian energy imports
• India's Russian oil imports may drop to 800,000 bpd in March

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India remained the second-largest buyer of Russian energy products in January, purchasing €2.2 billion ($2.59 billion) of Russian hydrocarbons, according to latest data by Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Helsinki-based think-tank . The overall spending declined from €2.3 billion ($2.71 billion) in December 2025.

Of the total imports, crude oil constituted the largest share -- at 78 percent - with purchases amounting to €2 billion ($2.36 billion), followed by coal at €442 million ($520.6 million). Oil products worth €30 million ($35.3 million) constituted the remainder of the country’s imports from Russia. In December 2025, the country purchased €1.8 billion ($2.12 billion) of crude oil from Russia.

China, on the other hand, saw a 29 percent rise in its imports of crude oil from Russia over the last two months, led by increased purchases of Urals as India stepped back from Russian supplies with the country’s purchases dropping by 23 percent since November. China’s oil imports from Russia saw an 18 percent month-on-month rise at €4 billion ($4.71 billion), constituting 16 percent of their total imports.

“While China’s seaborne imports of Russia’s Eastern Siberia–Pacific Ocean (ESPO) grade crude oil remained stable, imports of Urals grade crude — previously disfavoured by Chinese refiners — doubled in volumes in January 2026. Their imports of Urals grade crude were the highest volumes imported ever,” CREA said.

In January, India’s Jamnagar refinery, owned by Reliance Industries, did not receive any sea-borne Russian oil at all. The reasons for this cut-off is attributed to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions on Rosneft, which was the chief supplier to the refinery, the think-tank has said.

However, the refinery resumed its purchases of Russian oil in February with three shipments from Russia reported as destined for Jamnagar as of February 18, CREA data showed.

In January, the average price of Russia’s Urals crude rose by 4 percent to $54.2 per barrel, remaining above the new EU and UK price cap of $44.1 per barrel, which took effect on February 1.

While US President Donald Trump announced a new bilateral trade deal with India, stating India has decided to stop buying Russian crude, there has been no such clear declaration by Indian government officials.

The European Union’s ban on imports of oil products made from Russian crude came into effect on January 21, 2026.  The EU’s ban, in combination with OFAC sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, saw Indian refineries that export to the EU completely cut off their Russian feedstock, as per the think-tank.

India’s import of Russian oil is expected to fall to 800,000 barrels per day in March, its lowest level since May 2022, with Saudi Arabia regaining its share in India’s oil import basket, data and analytics firm Kpler said. In January, India imported 1.2 million bpd of Russian barrels and 774,000 bpd of oil from Saudi Arabia.