India fell to third place among buyers of Russian fossil fuels in December 2025, a European think tank said on Tuesday, according to PTI.
This fall came after Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and state-owned refiners sharply cut crude oil imports following United States imposed sanctions on Russia’s biggest crude producers (such as Rosneft and Lukoil).
Data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) showed that India’s total imports of Russian hydrocarbons fell to 2.3 billion euros in December, down from 3.3 billion euros in November.
Turkiye overtakes India
“Turkiye displaced India as the second largest importer, purchasing Euro 2.6 billion of Russian hydrocarbons in December,” CREA said.
China remained the top buyer, accounting for 48 per cent, or about Euro 6 billion, of Russia’s export revenues from the top five importers.
Crude oil made up the bulk of India’s purchases. “Crude oil constituted 78 per cent of India’s purchases, totalling Euro 1.8 billion,” CREA said. Coal imports stood at Euro 424 million, while oil products were worth Euro 82 million.
In November, India had spent 2.6 billion euros on Russian crude oil alone.
Reliance Industries leads decline in Russian crude purchases
“India’s Russian crude imports recorded a sharp 29% month-on-month reduction to the lowest volumes since the implementation of the price cap policy,” CREA said, adding that the drop came despite a marginal rise in India’s total crude imports.
The decline was largely driven by Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery, which cut Russian crude imports by half in December.
“The entirety of their imports were supplied by Rosneft, albeit from cargoes purchased before the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions came into effect,” the report said.
State-owned refiners also reduced Russian crude imports by 15% during the month. However, refiners like Indian Oil Corporation continue to buy crude from non-sanctioned Russian entities.
Russian oil’s share in India’s crude imports had jumped from under 1% to nearly 40% at its peak. In December, Russia supplied about 25% of India’s crude imports, down from 35 per cent in November.
with the input from Reuters