India supplies 70% of Russia’s record fuel imports as Ukrainian drones hit refineries

India supplies 70% of Russia’s record fuel imports as Ukrainian drones hit refineries

India emerged as the biggest source of Russia’s fuel imports in August, as Ukrainian drone strikes hit Moscow’s refineries and disrupted domestic fuel production. During the month, Russia imported 172,000 tonnes of oil products, more than seven times its previous monthly record.According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), India accounted for a record 70% of the imports, including 120,000 tonnes of gasoline worth 78 million euros.All of the gasoline from India was loaded at the Vadinar refinery and sold by EU-sanctioned Nayara Energy to Rosneft, CREA said. Rosneft owns 49.13% of Nayara Energy. Vadinar sourced all of its crude from Russia during the first eight months of 2026, compared with 81% for all of 2025.“Russia is therefore paying a refinery that it partly owns to process its own crude into fuel it can no longer produce domestically, before shipping it back halfway around the world,” CREA said.The shipments came as a sustained Ukrainian drone campaign against Russia’s oil refineries and energy infrastructure reduced domestic fuel production and contributed to shortages, according to CREA.Each cargo of gasoline exported from Vadinar to Russia was transferred between vessels in a ship-to-ship operation off Egypt before being unloaded at Russia’s Arctic port of Beloe More. All the vessels involved were sanctioned tankers, while four of the six had previously operated under false flags, CREA said.Gasoline makes up most of importsGasoline accounted for 74% of Russia’s total oil-product imports in August, a sharp jump from an average of just 6% between 2023 and 2025.South Korea supplied another 18,000 tonnes of oil products to Russia in August, mostly gasoil, while Egypt exported 25,000 tonnes of diesel worth 16 million euros, CREA said.The surge in imports came as Russia’s own oil-product exports fell. Seaborne oil-product exports dropped 21% by volume in August, while revenues from products unloaded at destination ports fell 32% from July to 78 million euros per day, the lowest level since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Oil-product loadings at Russian ports have fallen for three consecutive months and were less than half their August 2025 level, according to CREA.Tuapse, Russia’s fourth-largest oil-product export port before the full-scale invasion, did not load a single oil-product cargo for the third consecutive month after sustained Ukrainian drone attacks since May.Ukrainian strikes also disrupted crude exports through Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. Crude loadings there fell 58% month-on-month in August, while loadings stopped for nine consecutive days, the longest reported interruption at the port since the start of the full-scale invasion, CREA said.India remains Russia’s second-largest fossil-fuel customerIndia remained Russia’s second-largest fossil-fuel customer in August, behind China.India imported 4.8 billion euros of Russian hydrocarbons during the month. Crude oil accounted for 4.1 billion euros, or 87%, of these purchases, CREA said.Indian imports of Russian crude nevertheless fell 24% from July after reaching record levels in the previous two months. Imports at the Jamnagar refinery fell 15%, while those at Vadinar rose 5% and Paradip increased 1%.China was Russia’s largest fossil-fuel customer in August, accounting for 8.4 billion euros, or 51%, of the revenues generated by its five largest buyers. Russian seaborne crude imports into China rose 16% month-on-month and were 62% above August 2025 levels, CREA said.Overall, Russia’s fossil-fuel export revenues fell 8% in August to 604 million euros per day, while export volumes declined 7%.Despite the fall in export volumes, Russia continued to benefit from higher global energy prices. The average price of Russia’s Urals crude rose 23% in August to $69.90 a barrel, well above the G7 and European Union price cap of $44.10, according to the agency.The research group estimated that higher oil and gas prices following the US-Israel strikes on Iran increased Russia’s seaborne fossil-fuel export revenues by about 31 billion euros in the six months after the strikes.