India Oil Imports

At the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2026, RBI Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta said India's dependence on imported oil remains a challenge, despite the economy's resilience to global shocks

India's imports of West Asian crude oil surged in September, returning to pre-war levels, while its ‌refiners cut back purchases ​of Russian oil amid ‌stiff competition from China

Indian refiners traditionally relied on ‌the West Asia for more than half of their annual crude supplies, particularly heavier, high-sulphur grades, because of the region's proximity

Refiners say high freight costs, longer voyages and limited supplies of medium sour crude make US barrels less attractive than West Asian and Russian alternatives

US President Donald Trump said Russia had agreed to immediately supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global markets after a discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin

Venezuelan crude deliveries to India are expected to more than double to about 465,000 barrels a day this month, from 196,000 in September, according to Kpler estimate

Refiners are shifting from relying on Gulf producers and traders to transport crude through Hormuz, seeking to reduce the premium paid for cost-and-freight shipments

India spent $24.4 billion more on crude in April-August despite a 0.4% fall in import volumes as prices rose in international markets amid supply concerns due to the West Asia conflict

US lawmakers' push to name India in a Russia sanctions bill puts its Russian oil purchases back in focus. Here's how the trade has changed since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine

Russian crude oil supplies to India, which set records in June and July at nearly 55 per cent of the country's total imports and bailed out Indian refiners, are under threat while West Asian supplies

Given the pressure on Moscow's crude exports, processors have been seeking alternative barrels from regions including West Africa and even the Americas

Donald Trump's Operation Economic Outcast could hit India through higher oil prices, trade disruptions, payment hurdles and possible US action over New Delhi's purchases of Russian energy

Delivered cost of Venezuela's Merey grade surges to $95 bbl, while Russian grade has flipped from a discount to a premium over Dated Brent

India's US crude imports may fall to around 75,000 bpd in August, near 70,000 bpd in December 2024; imports had peaked at about 565,000 bpd in October 2025

A US Senate vote to advance tougher sanctions on Russia raises the risk of disruption to Russian crude supplies but is unlikely to immediately alter oil flows to India and China, according to Kpler analyst Sumit Ritolia. The US Senate on Friday passed a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that would give President Donald Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100 per cent on imports from countries that are among the world's largest buyers of Russian oil and gas. The Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026 targets the five biggest purchasers of Russian energy and is aimed at cutting Moscow's revenues from oil and gas sales. The measure still needs to clear the US House of Representatives and faces further legislative and administrative steps before it could take effect. According to Ritolia, the measures still face further legislative and administrative hurdles, while their impact will depend largely on how aggressively the US administration implements them, including wheth

Palm oil imports jumped 50% from a month ago to 733,000 metric tons in July, the highest in five months, dealers' average estimates showed

India is embarking on what could be one of the world's first large-scale programmes to fund high-risk offshore oil and gas exploration directly from the national budget, wagering that the country's largely untapped deepwater reserves can help curb its growing dependence on imported crude and gas. The Union Cabinet last week approved the Rs 84,084-crore Samudra Manthan National Offshore Exploration Scheme, under which the government will fund half of the the cost of drilling a deepsea and ultra-deep water exploration well or Rs 650 crore, whichever is lower, directly from the budget, officials said. "This perhaps is the first time that any government in the world is funding risk exploration from the budget," an official said, adding that in all, 60 deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration wells over the next five years will be funded from the budget. Besides underwriting part of the cost of drilling exploration wells, the government will part-fund common infrastructure, including ..

The US Senate moved a step closer to passing a bipartisan bill that would allow Trump to impose sanctions on countries, including India and China, that continue to buy Russian oil.

Red Sea traffic ‌has been disrupted off the ​coast of Yemen ​since last week by the Tehran-aligned Houthis, who want to ​blockade Saudi exports

The revised US Senate bill cuts tariffs on buyers of Russian oil-India, China, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan-from 500% to 100%, while expanding sanctions on Russia