Refineries in India and two other countries that run on Russian crude shipped 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) of oil products to sanctioning countries in September, up 43 per cent from August, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat accounted for six of the seven shipments received at European Union ports during the month, despite the bloc’s restrictions on importing fuel produced from Russian crude. The report estimated that €295 million worth of the oil products exported by the three countries had been refined from Russian crude.
Notably, the CREA report covers refineries in India, Turkiye and Brunei. The EU took 667 million euros’ worth of their products, Australia 168 million euros, the US 154 million euros and New Zealand 19 million euros.
As per the CREA report, Italy received three of the seven EU-bound shipments, Romania two, and Spain and Cyprus one each.
Further exports reported as destined for EU ports from refineries running on Russian crude rose 80 per cent in value, including a single 104,000-tonne cargo of gasoil (diesel) from Jamnagar still en route to Rotterdam.
The value of exports reported as destined for EU ports from refineries processing Russian crude increased 80% month-on-month, CREA said. These shipments included a 104,000-tonne cargo of gasoil, commonly used as diesel fuel, dispatched from Jamnagar that was still en route to Rotterdam at the time of the report.
The European Union introduced a ban in January 2026 on importing oil products refined from Russian crude. However, the restrictions include an exemption for countries classified as net crude oil exporters.
CREA argued that this exemption creates a loophole because a country’s net-exporter status does not prevent its refineries from processing Russian-origin crude and subsequently exporting the refined products.
“India was the second-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in September 2026, importing a total of 4.1 billion euros of Russian hydrocarbons. Crude oil constituted 88 per cent of India’s purchases, totalling 3.6 billion euros. Coal (309 million euros) and oil products (161 million euros) constituted the remainder of its monthly Russian imports,” CREA said.
“The main exception was the IOC Mundra Oil Terminal, which received 570 thousand tonnes of Russian crude in September after receiving none in August,” CREA said.
India: Russia’s second-largest fossil fuel customer
India was Russia’s second-largest fossil fuel customer in September, spending 4.1 billion euros on Russian hydrocarbons, 88 per cent of it crude. Only China bought more. Since December 2022, India has taken 37 per cent of Russia’s crude exports, against China’s 50 per cent.
India was a marginal buyer of Russian oil before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It became a top customer as Western buyers retreated and Russia sold at steep discounts. Urals crude averaged $90.7 a barrel in September but still traded $23 below Brent, unchanged from August.
Indian Refineries Ship $1.2 Billion Of Fuel To West, Up By 43%
