Indian refineries are accepting Russian oil again

In early January, about 2.2 million barrels of Russian oil could arrive at Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery in India.

Three tankers carrying Russian Urals have designated Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery in India as their port of destination, Bloomberg reports.

In 2024–2025, Reliance was the world’s largest buyer of Russian oil. Urals accounted for more than 40% of the refinery’s imports in January–November 2025. At the same time, the company said it had no confirmed shipments of Russian oil for January.

According to Kpler, some of the current shipments are being made to traders under UK sanctions. Among them is Alghaf Marine DMCC, which is said to be the successor to the Middle East division of Litasco (the trading arm of Lukoil).

After the US sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil, Reliance refused to cooperate with these companies and in November announced that it would stop using their barrels at its refineries, focusing on non-sanctioned Russian producers. Although before that, Rosneft was a key supplier under a long-term contract for 500 thousand b/d.

Meanwhile, Indian state-owned IOC and Bharat Petroleum also continue to take Russian barrels outside the sanctions chains – they are attracted by discounts, low refining margins and Uncertainty in negotiations with Washington. Due to increased US control, total imports of Russian oil to India in December fell to a minimum in 3 years, but signals from Jamnagar indicate a trend reversal in early January.

Recall that recently the US allowed the Indian Reliance refinery to buy Rosneft oil for another month.