OPEC regains share in India as Russian oil imports slump in December

NEW DELHI: India’s Russian oil imports fell to their lowest level in two years in December, as Western sanctions pushed refiners to tap alternatives, lifting OPEC’s share of imports to an 11-month high, trade data showed.

Lower imports of Russian oil, sold at a discount, is likely to hit profits of refiners in the world’s third largest oil importer and consuming nation and push them to turn to suppliers in the Middle East, the US and South America.

Tighter US and European Union sanctions have slowed Russian oil flows to India, with imports dropping about 22 percent to 1.38 million barrels per day in December from the previous month, reducing Russia’s share to 27.4 percent, the lowest since January 2023, while OPEC’s share rose to 53.2 percent, the data showed.

Reliance Industries, the largest Indian buyer of Russian oil, stopped receiving crude under its deal with Rosneft in the final 10 days of December, with its imports from Russia falling to a nearly two-year low, the data showed. State refiners, meanwhile, continued to source Russian oil from non-sanctioned suppliers.

Despite the drop, Russia remained the top supplier of oil to India in December and during first nine of this fiscal year to March 31, 2026, followed by Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Some cargoes that arrived in December, however, were discharged in January, the data showed.

India’s Russian oil imports are expected to average around 1.2 million to 1.4 million bpd in January, with the pullback looking more like a short-term disruption from compliance issues rather than India moving away from Russia completely, said Sumit Ritola, lead research analyst, refining and modelling at Kpler.

To keep track of refiners’ oil purchases, the Indian government is seeking weekly details on crude purchases from Russia and the US

For 2025, OPEC’s share of India’s crude imports edged up to 50 percent, from 49 percent from a year earlier, while Russia’s portion shrank to 33.3 percent versus 36 percent in 2024.

India emerged as the biggest buyer of discounted Russian seaborne crude following the start of the Ukraine war in 2022.

The purchases have fuelled a backlash from Western nations, which have targeted Russia’s energy sector with sanctions, arguing that oil revenues help fund Moscow’s war effort.

The US doubled import tariffs on Indian goods to 50 percent last year as punishment for its heavy purchasing of Russian oil. The two countries are currently negotiating a potential trade deal.