Business as usual: India’s Russian oil imports hit 2 million barrels per day in August
Public Lokpal
August 16, 2025
Business as usual: India’s Russian oil imports hit 2 million barrels per day in August
New Delhi: India's purchase of Russian oil has risen to 2 million barrels per day in August, as refiners continue to prioritise economic considerations in their sourcing decisions.
As much as 38 per cent out of an estimated 5.2 million barrels per day of crude oil imported in the first half of August came from Russia, according to global real-time data and analytics provider Kpler.
Imports from Russia at 2 million bpd were up from 1.6 million bpd in July. The increase in Russian flow was at the cost of purchases from Iraq, which declined to 730,000 bpd in August from 907 bpd in July, and Saudi Arabia which fell to 526,000 bpd from 700,000 bpd last month.
The US was the fifth largest supplier at 264,000 bpd, according to Kpler.
India, the world's third-largest oil consumer and importer, had swiftly substituted market-priced oil with discounted Russian crude following Western sanctions on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian oil, which accounted for less than 0.2 per cent of India's imports before the war, now makes up 35-40 per cent of the country's crude intake. The discounts however have narrowed from a high of USD 40 per barrel to just USD 1.5 last month.
Discounts this month have risen to over USD 2 per barrel.
PTI