Russian vessel Vladimir Vinogradov unloads crude at Vadinar in the western state of Gujarat, India
India’s Russian crude buying has reached its limit
Middle East grades remain a diminished but important part of the South Asian country’s diet, especially as new refining capacity comes online
India’s love affair with Russian crude continued in 2024, with Russia having been been the largest supplier to India for three years now. The love is far from unconditional, however, it is born out of the war in Ukraine on the one side and a desire to save money by buying heavily discounted grades on the other. A closer look shows the proportion of Russian volumes as a percentage of India’s overall imports was down for the majority of months in 2024 compared with 2023, indicating that imports from other regions are increasing—albeit on a marginal basis. And the old adage about never forgetting your first love seems to apply, with some Indian refiners having started to pursue Middle Eastern s
Also in this section
17 February 2026
The 25th WPC Energy Congress, taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 26–30 April 2026, will bring together leaders from the political, industrial, financial and technology sectors under the unifying theme “Pathways to an Energy Future for All”
17 February 2026
Siemens Energy has been active in the Kingdom for nearly a century, evolving over that time from a project-based foreign supplier to a locally operating multi-national company with its own domestic supply chain and workforce
17 February 2026
Eni’s chief operating officer for global natural resources, Guido Brusco, takes stock of the company’s key achievements over the past year, and what differentiates its strategy from those of its peers in the LNG sector and beyond
16 February 2026
As the third wave of global LNG arrives, Wood Mackenzie’s director for Europe gas and LNG, Tom Marzec-Manser, discusses with Petroleum Economist the outlook for Europe’s gas market in 2026
