India's oil import bill slips 19% in Q1 on discounted Russian barrels

Barrels Without Borders

- ARUNIMA BHARADWAJ

INDIA'S CRUDE IMPORT bill declined by 18.6% during the first three months of the financial year 2025-26, reaching $30.6 billion compared to $37.6 billion in the same period of FY24, according to data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell. The decline in the import bill can be attributed to India's heavy reliance on discounted Russian barrels.

The country imported 62.1 million tonnes of crude oil during Apr-Jun, largely unchanged from last year.

India, which meets 85% of its crude oil requirements via imports, has ramped up purchases of Russian crude since the Eurasian country's war with neighboring Ukraine broke out in early 2022. The discounted Russian oil helped the country control the forex outgo for the key energy source.

The sharp pivot toward Russia is not just opportunistic, but structural. Indian refiners re-optimized their crude diet to incorporate higher volumes of Urals and ESPO, aided by blending strategies, flexible CDU (Crude Distillation Unit) configurations, and crude assay recalibration, said Sumit Ritolia, lead research analyst, refining & modelling at Kpler.