NEW DELHI — India spent a record €6.4 billion on Russian fossil fuels in October 2026, pushed by an insatiable domestic appetite for discounted seaborne crude.
Crude oil accounted for 91 percent of that bill. Indian refiners shelled out €5.8 billion for crude shipments alone, alongside €333 million in Russian coal and €232 million in petroleum products, according to monthly tracking data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The total represents New Delhi's highest monthly expenditure on Russian hydrocarbons since monitoring began in January 2022.
The buying spree cemented India's position as Moscow's second-largest energy client worldwide. Only China bought more, absorbing €10.7 billion and claiming 51 percent of the total revenue generated by Russia's top five trade partners. Behind them sat the European Union at €2.2 billion, Turkiye at €1.1 billion, and South Korea at €488 million. The discounts worked. Trade continued uninterrupted.
Crude flows into Indian ports rose 10 percent month-on-month in October, propelled by expanded runs across the country's coastal refining complexes. Private and state-run operators scaled up throughput across the board.
Reliance Industries Ltd's mega-refinery at Jamnagar boosted Russian crude intake by 22 percent compared to September. That surge vaulted Jamnagar back into the position of the world's single largest buyer of seaborne Russian oil. In Gujarat's Gulf of Kutch, Nayara Energy's Vadinar refinery increased its Russian crude imports by 12 percent. Further east on the Odisha coast, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd's Paradip refinery recorded a 28 percent month-on-month jump.
Between August and October 2026, Russian barrels supplied 30 percent of all crude unloaded at Jamnagar. Cheap Ural grades kept operating margins fat.
| Top Fossil Fuel Buyers from Russia (October 2026) | Total Purchases (€ Billion) | Share of Top Five Importers | Major Import Components |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | €10.7B | 51% | Crude, Pipeline Gas, Coal |
| India | €6.4B | 31% | Crude (€5.8B), Coal (€333M), Products (€232M) |
| European Union | €2.2B | 11% | LNG, Pipeline Gas |
| Turkiye | €1.1B |
Yet Western governments targeting the Kremlin's treasury kept taking delivery of Russian molecules through back doors.
Refineries across India, Turkiye, and Brunei processing Russian crude exported €1.6 billion worth of refined oil products directly to countries enforcing sanctions against Moscow. Western regulators had banned direct maritime imports of Russian crude in 2022. But once an Indian or Turkish distillation tower cracked that barrel into diesel, jet fuel, or gasoline, the legal origin changed.
The European Union was the largest destination for these laundered flows, taking €1.2 billion in refined fuels during October. Australia bought €271 million. The United States absorbed €94 million, while New Zealand imported €23 million. CREA established that at least €389 million of those finished products were derived straight from Russian crude runs.
Every dollar of the €94 million in refined fuels shipped to the United States originated from Reliance's Jamnagar facility. Sanctions had drawn a line on paper. Economics erased it.
Higher crude prices blunted the intended squeeze of Western price caps. Moscow collected €754 million a day from fossil fuel exports in October, up 14 percent month-on-month to reach its highest daily revenue mark since December 2022.
Volumes shipped by sea held flat. Price spikes carried the balance. Flare-ups across the Middle East and maritime threats along the Strait of Hormuz drove international benchmarks upward throughout the autumn. Military exchanges involving strikes against Iranian facilities rattled energy desks, adding an estimated $35.9 billion—roughly €31 billion—to Russia's seaborne energy revenues over the subsequent six months.
Market Context: Western price caps assumed Asian buyers would refuse cargoes above $60 per barrel. Instead, non-aligned refiners in Jamnagar and Vadinar processed discounted Urals round-the-clock, pocketed robust gross refining margins, and met insatiable Western demand for finished fuels.
Trading desks now expect Indian crude demand to hold steady heading into the winter quarter, with state and private refiners locking in term contracts despite pressure from Western capitals.
| 5% |
| Crude, Petroleum Products |
| South Korea | €0.49B | 2% | Coal, Gas |