Russia has doubled oil exports to India

According to a report by the Finnish think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, the value of oil imported by India from Russia in March amounted to €5.3 billion. “The most significant change was observed in imports by state-owned refineries from Russia, which recorded a massive increase of 148 percent.” Only China imported more Russian oil, purchasing 51 percent of the total exports of this commodity.

India, which imports 90 percent of its oil, was particularly affected by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the United States and Israel’s attack on Iran. Prerna Gandhi from the Vivekananda International Foundation assessed that oil supplies from Russia “will remain absolutely crucial, as India has very few alternative sources of energy available in the required volumes along routes bypassing Hormuz.” Before Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2022, Russian oil accounted for only 0.2 percent of India’s total crude imports. After the outbreak of the full-scale war and the imposition of Western sanctions on Russia, exports of Russian oil to India increased significantly.