NEW DELHI: India is asking refiners for weekly disclosures of Russian and U.S. oil purchases, people familiar with the matter told Reuters, adding that they expect Russian crude imports to dip below 1 million barrels per day as New Delhi seeks to clinch a trade deal with Washington.
India became the biggest buyer of discounted Russian seaborne crude following the 2022 outbreak of the Ukraine war. But those purchases have fuelled a backlash from Western nations, which have targeted Russia’s energy sector with sanctions, arguing that oil revenues help fund Moscow’s war effort.
The United States, which was already looking to narrow its trade deficit with India, doubled import tariffs on Indian goods to 50% last year as punishment for its heavy purchasing of Russian oil. The two countries are currently negotiating a potential trade deal, though those talks have been fraught at times.
INDIA WANTS ‘TIMELY, ACCURATE DATA’ TO SHOW WASHINGTON
The oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) is asking refiners to provide weekly information on their imports from Russia and the U.S., stating that the information is required by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, five industry and government sources told Reuters.
Kremlin says India will continue to buy Russian oil if it’s profitable
“We want timely and accurate data on Russian and U.S. oil imports so that, when the U.S. asks for information, we can provide verified figures instead of them relying on secondary sources,” said one of the sources, a government official.
The sources, who all declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media on the matter, did not expect the data to be made public.
Modi’s office, the oil ministry and its PPAC unit did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The origins of Indian firms’ oil purchases are typically reflected in monthly customs data and by private sector analytics firms. This marks the first time the government has sought such information from refiners on a weekly basis.
Major Indian refiners, including Reliance Industries and Indian Oil Corp, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
RUSSIAN OIL AT ISSUE IN DIFFICULT TRADE TALKS
Though many major world economies have succeeded in striking trade deals with Washington that reduced U.S. President Donald Trump’s initial crippling tariff rates, talks between New Delhi and Washington have so far failed to produce an agreement.
Negotiations collapsed in late July after India resisted opening its market for U.S. farm products and declined to acknowledge Trump’s role in mediating during a brief conflict between India and Pakistan. Trump, meanwhile, doubled the tariff rates on Indian goods in August.
Trump and Modi have continued to talk, however, and negotiations have resumed, though India’s Russian oil purchases remain a stumbling block.
While Trump said in October that Modi had pledged to stop buying Russian oil, New Delhi has publicly resisted U.S. pressure, arguing that Russian imports are vital to its energy security.
Two of the sources, both of them government officials, said refiners have not been expressly instructed to cut Russian oil purchases. However, they and the industry sources said they expect imports to average below 1 million bpd in the coming months.
Stricter U.S. and European Union sanctions have already slowed Russian oil flows to India, which fell to a three-year low of about 1.2 million bpd in December, according to sources and analytics firm Kpler. That marks a roughly 40% drop from a June peak of around 2 million bpd.
Trump has made energy purchases an imporAtant aspect of many of his trade deals. And India is also looking to increase purchases of U.S. crude after the country’s refiners already stepped up imports of U.S. gas, industry sources said.
The U.S. accounted for 6.6% of Indian crude imports in 2025, Kpler data showed. Russia supplied 35%.
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