Asserting its strategy of independent energy sourcing despite tightening international regulatory checks, India imported an estimated €5.8 billion ($6.7 billion) worth of Russian fossil fuels in May 2026.

According to the latest monthly monitoring report released by the independent European think tank, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the surge in volume solidifies India’s position as the world’s second-largest buyer of Russian energy, trailing only China. The data shows that a 21% month-on-month jump in arrivals from Moscow largely drove an overall 8% expansion in India’s total global crude intake for May.

The Hydrocarbon Split: Crude Dominates the Basket

A granular look at the trade architecture reveals that crude oil remains the absolute anchor of the bilateral trade corridor, accounting for 83% of India’s total fuel spending with Moscow.

Major Refining Hubs Accelerate Unloading

The uptick in imports was felt directly across the country’s major coastal refining infrastructure, split between private megacomplexes and key state-run facilities that returned to the Russian market earlier this spring:

• The Gujarat Powerhouses: Unloaded volumes of Russian crude at Nayara Energy’s Vadinar refinery in Gujarat posted a sharp 36% month-on-month jump compared to April, while Reliance Industries’ massive Jamnagar refining complex saw a 14% increase in deliveries.
• State-Run Re-entry: Public-sector refiners continued to build out momentum after restarting buying channels in March. Monthly Russian crude deliveries to the New Mangalore refinery ticked up by 13%, while intake at the Visakhapatnam refinery expanded by 42%.
• Paradip Milestone: On the eastern coast, Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOCL) Paradip refinery in Odisha unloaded its highest monthly volume of Russian crude in over two years.

Global Market Share and the Refined Product Loop

On the global stage, China remained the dominant buyer of Russian crude exports in May with a 50% volume share, followed by India at 36%, Turkiye at 6%, and the European Union at 5%.

Crucially, the CREA report highlighted the ongoing complexity of global sanctions tracking. Despite the European Union’s structural embargo on refined products processing Russian crude, shadow flows continue to hit Western markets indirectly.

Refineries utilizing Russian crude feedstocks across India, Turkiye, Brunei, and Georgia exported an estimated €641 million worth of oil products to sanctioning nations in May alone. The primary recipients of these complex shipments included Australia (€275 million), the EU (€174 million), the United States (€147 million), and New Zealand (€45 million), with approximately a third of those specific volumes mathematically verified as being refined directly from Russian baseline crude.