India’s Russian oil imports are set to decline to the lowest in years Reliance Industries Ltd. said it’s not expecting any delivery in January.
“Reliance Industries’s Jamnagar refinery has not received any cargo of Russian oil at its refinery in the past three weeks approx. and is not expecting any Russian crude oil deliveries in January,” the company led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani said in a statement posted on X. The statement denied a Bloomberg News report from last week that said three vessels laden with Russian oil were heading towards Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery.
The statement by Reliance, which operates the world’s largest refining complex in Gujarat’s Jamnagar, came after US President Donald Trump on Sunday said that the US could further raise tariffs on India over Russian oil imports.
Reliance Industries was the biggest Indian buyer of Russian crude last year.
On Tuesday, Reliance Industries shares fell as much as 5.09% to an intraday low of ₹1,497.05 on the BSE even as the benchmark Sensex traded mixed.
India’s Russian oil imports
India has emerged as the biggest buyer of Russian crude oil amid sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine. That triggered a backlash from Europe and the US, which claim that the revenue from such transactions was fuelling President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
In August 2025, the US doubled its tariffs on Indian goods to 50% due to India’s Russian oil imports. India and the US are currently negotiating a bilateral trade agreement.
Indian authorities have asked refiners for weekly disclosures of Russian and US oil purchases, Reuters reported last week citing people aware of the matter. They said India’s imports of Russian crude are likely to dip below 1 million barrels per day as New Delhi wants to clinch a trade deal with Washington.
Stricter US and EU sanctions have slowed Russian oil flows to India, which fell to a three-year low of about 1.2 million bpd in December, according to Kpler. That marks a roughly 40% drop from a June peak of around 2 million bpd.
Nayara Energy’s Russian oil imports
With Reliance Industries hitting a pause, deliveries of Russian oil to India in January are likely to be limited to Russia-backed Nayara Energy and state-run refiners Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., according to preliminary data from LSEG.
Nayara Energy, which operates a 400,000-bpd refinery in Gujarat, is likely to be the main Indian buyer of Russian crude as supplies are otherwise constrained by EU sanctions after other suppliers backed out, government sources told Reuters.
