Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) reports India bought $2.59 billion of Russian fossil fuels in January 2026.

Key facts

• India remained the second-largest buyer of Russian energy products in January 2026 with purchases worth €2.2 billion ($2.59 billion).
• Crude oil accounted for 78 percent of India’s Russian energy imports, amounting to €2 billion ($2.36 billion).
• Coal imports from Russia stood at €442 million ($520.6 million) and oil products at €30 million ($35.3 million).
• India’s overall spending on Russian hydrocarbons declined from €2.3 billion ($2.71 billion) in December 2025.
• China’s crude oil imports from Russia rose 29 percent over the last two months to €4 billion ($4.71 billion).
• India’s purchases of Russian crude dropped 23 percent since November 2025.
• Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery received no seaborne Russian oil in January 2026 due to Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions on Rosneft.
• The average price of Russia’s Urals crude increased 4 percent to $54.2 per barrel in January 2026, above the EU and UK price cap of $44.1 per barrel effective from 1 February 2026.
• India’s Russian oil imports are projected to fall to 800,000 barrels per day in March 2026, the lowest since May 2022.
• In January 2026, India imported 1.2 million barrels per day of Russian crude and 774,000 barrels per day from Saudi Arabia.