Russian imports of petroleum products reached a record high in August: CREA | Today’s news
New Delhi: Russia imported a record 172,000 tonnes of petroleum products in August, with most of the supply coming from India, according to a report by Finnish think tank Center for Energy and Clean Air Research (CREA).
The report said supplies from the Nayara Vadinar refinery accounted for about 70% of imports of Russian products, followed by supplies from South Korea.
“Ukraine strikes on Russian refining capacity have turned the tables on the world’s once-biggest exporter of petroleum products to see it start importing fuel, with imports rising to a record 172,000 tonnes in August – more than seven times the previous monthly high. Russia has been forced to import fuel from South Korea and buy back petrol refined from its own crude in India,” India said.
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All the gasoline from India was loaded at the Vadinar refinery and sold to Nayara Energy by Rosneft, CREA said. Rosneft owns 49.13% of Nayara Energy, while Vadinar sourced all of its oil from Russia during the first eight months of 2026, according to the report.
“Every cargo exported from India’s Vadinar refinery to Russia was transferred between vessels in a ship-to-ship operation in the Damietta Lightering zone off Egypt before being unloaded at the Russian Arctic port of Beloe More,” it said.
“Russia’s need to buy gasoline from a refinery it partially owns in India and deliver it halfway around the world using the same fleet that carries its exports has seen the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes on its domestic refining capacity in recent months,” the report said.
Shipping to Russia
Furthermore, in August 2026, Russia imported 18,000 tons of South Korean petroleum products. It noted that Turkey also appeared to have started deliveries of gasoline to Russia, with the first cargo arriving in September 2026.
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Russia typically imports only small volumes of refined petroleum products, averaging less than 5,000 tons of seaborne imports per month between 2023 and 2025. However, Russia has been facing severe domestic fuel shortages for some time following repeated waves of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian energy and refining infrastructure.
Top oil supplier
Russia is the main oil supplier to India, with supplies of around 1.9 million barrels per day in August. In August, China was the largest buyer of Russian oil (50% of Russian oil exports), followed by India (37%), Turkey (5%) and the European Union (5%).
“India was the second largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in August 2026, importing a total of €4.8 billion of Russian hydrocarbons. Oil accounted for 87% of India’s total purchases of €4.1 billion. Coal (€379 million) and petroleum products (€258 million) made up the rest of its monthly imports from Russia.
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After two consecutive months of record high oil imports from Russia, India’s imports fell 24% month-on-month in August. Imports from all three of India’s biggest refiners importing oil from Russia remained high in August – Jamnagar refinery (down 15% month-on-month), Vadinar refinery (up 5%) and Indian Oil Corp’s Paradip refinery. Ltd (a slight 1% increase).
