The Crossbill News Desk
With the United States set to enforce its new tariff regime from August 27, India’s oil refining sector is preparing to secure Russian crude at discounted rates beyond the deadline.
According to a Business Standard report citing ship tracking data and official sources, the biggest winners from India’s steady inflow of Russian oil since 2022 have not been state-run refiners, but two private players—Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and Russian Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy.
Together, these two companies account for more than 40 per cent of the average 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude India has been sourcing.
The report noted that “state-run refiners, cosseted by New Delhi’s fixed fuel price regime, have gained less compared to private refiners,” adding that the benefits of discounted imports “are not definitely distributed, with private sector refiners becoming the biggest beneficiaries.”
Quoting maritime intelligence agency Kpler, the report said, “Just two Indian refiners, both private, accounted for a combined 881,000 barrels per day (BPD) of the 1.8 million bpd in total imports of discounted Russian crude oil in 2025 till date.”
Overall, seven Indian refiners have been importing Russian oil.
Russia, under a barrage of Western sanctions following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has sharply increased its share in India’s crude import basket—rising from two per cent in 2021 to an average of 32 per cent over the last 42 months. The shift has come largely at the expense of traditional suppliers such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria.
In June 2025, Russian oil’s share in the Indian market reached a record 45 per cent, which, as the report observed, meant “virtually, every second barrel of India’s overseas crude came from Russia.”
Reliance Industries has emerged as the largest beneficiary of this arrangement, though the scale of its profits remains undisclosed. Unlike state-owned refiners such as ONGC, which must cater to the price-controlled domestic fuel market, Reliance and Nayara have been able to export a major portion of their refined output to Europe and Asia at far higher margins.
“Reliance and Nayara together accounted for 81 per cent of India’s fuel exports this year in volume terms, primarily of middle distilates like diesel and jet fuel,” the report highlighted.
Reliance alone has dominated export activity.
“At 914,000 bpd, Reliance accounted for 71 per cent of India’s exports,” the report said.
Its Jamnagar refinery, the largest in the world, exported nearly 67 per cent of its production. In June, imports of Russian crude at 746,000 bpd constituted more than half of Jamnagar’s 1.36 million bpd refining capacity, underscoring the scale at which discounted Russian oil is feeding India’s private refining sector.
According to a Business Standard report citing ship tracking data and official sources, the biggest winners from India’s steady inflow of Russian oil since 2022 have not been state-run refiners, but two private players—Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries and Russian Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy.
Together, these two companies account for more than 40 per cent of the average 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude India has been sourcing.
The report noted that “state-run refiners, cosseted by New Delhi’s fixed fuel price regime, have gained less compared to private refiners,” adding that the benefits of discounted imports “are not definitely distributed, with private sector refiners becoming the biggest beneficiaries.”
Quoting maritime intelligence agency Kpler, the report said, “Just two Indian refiners, both private, accounted for a combined 881,000 barrels per day (BPD) of the 1.8 million bpd in total imports of discounted Russian crude oil in 2025 till date.”
Overall, seven Indian refiners have been importing Russian oil.
Russia, under a barrage of Western sanctions following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, has sharply increased its share in India’s crude import basket—rising from two per cent in 2021 to an average of 32 per cent over the last 42 months. The shift has come largely at the expense of traditional suppliers such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria.
In June 2025, Russian oil’s share in the Indian market reached a record 45 per cent, which, as the report observed, meant “virtually, every second barrel of India’s overseas crude came from Russia.”
Reliance Industries has emerged as the largest beneficiary of this arrangement, though the scale of its profits remains undisclosed. Unlike state-owned refiners such as ONGC, which must cater to the price-controlled domestic fuel market, Reliance and Nayara have been able to export a major portion of their refined output to Europe and Asia at far higher margins.
“Reliance and Nayara together accounted for 81 per cent of India’s fuel exports this year in volume terms, primarily of middle distilates like diesel and jet fuel,” the report highlighted.
Reliance alone has dominated export activity.
“At 914,000 bpd, Reliance accounted for 71 per cent of India’s exports,” the report said.
Its Jamnagar refinery, the largest in the world, exported nearly 67 per cent of its production. In June, imports of Russian crude at 746,000 bpd constituted more than half of Jamnagar’s 1.36 million bpd refining capacity, underscoring the scale at which discounted Russian oil is feeding India’s private refining sector.
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