India slipped to third place in buying Russian oil: Reliance and government companies bought 29% less in December; Turkey became the second biggest customer

India has now moved from second to third place in terms of purchasing Russian fossil fuel. The change comes after Reliance Industries and government refineries cut imports of Russian crude in December 2025. Natural fuels like coal, crude oil, which are made from the remains of plants and animals buried under the ground millions of years ago, are called fossil fuels.

According to the report of European think tank ‘Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air’ (CREA), India imported hydrocarbons worth 2.3 billion euros (about ₹ 23,000 crore) from Russia in December, which is much less than 3.3 billion euros (about ₹ 34,700 crore) in November.

Now Turkey has become Russia’s second largest buyer, surpassing India at 2.6 billion euros (about ₹ 27,300 crore). China still remains at number one with purchases of 6 billion euros (about ₹ 63,100 crore).

Reliance reduced 50% stake, government companies reduced imports The biggest reason for the decline in India’s imports in December was Reliance Industries. Reliance’s Jamnagar Refinery has reduced imports from Russia to half (50%).

According to the report, the entire supply of Reliance was coming from ‘Rosneft’, but due to fear of US sanctions, companies have started reducing imports. Apart from Reliance, government oil refineries have also reduced the purchase of Russian oil by 15% in December.

Russian oil imports fell 29% in December India spent 2.6 billion euros on Russian crude in November, which fell 29% to 1.8 billion euros in December. CREA noted that the decline came even as India’s total oil imports increased slightly. That means India is now buying oil from other countries instead of Russia.

Companies keeping distance from Rosneft and Lukoil America has imposed sanctions on Russia’s largest oil companies ‘Rosneft’ and ‘Lukoil’ in order to stop funding for the Russia-Ukraine war. Due to these restrictions, Reliance, HPCL, HPCL-Mittal Energy and Mangalore Refinery (MRPL) have either stopped or significantly reduced the purchase of Russian oil. However, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is still buying oil from Russian entities that are not subject to sanctions.

Russia’s share in India’s total oil imports decreased from 35% to 25%. After the attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries reduced the purchase of oil and gas from Russia. Then India had emerged as Russia’s biggest customer.

The share of India’s total oil requirement, which was earlier less than 1%, had increased to 40%. But Russia’s share has come down to 25% in December 2025, which was 35% last month. India is now again turning towards its old partners i.e. the countries of the Middle East.

Russian oil is being refined in India and is going to America and Australia. A fact also revealed in the report is that the refineries of India, Turkey and Brunei are processing Russian crude oil into petrol and diesel and selling it to those countries which have imposed sanctions on Russia.

In December, these refineries exported petroleum products worth 943 million euros to the European Union (EU), US, UK and Australia. Of this, exports to America saw an increase of 121%, in which Jamnagar Refinery had a major share.

China still number-1, 48% of Russia’s total earnings come from there China still remains the biggest support for Russia. 48% of Russia’s total export revenue comes from China. In December, China bought 6 billion euros worth of Russian oil, coal and gas. China’s oil imports via sea route also increased by 23% in December.