Russia's petroleum product imports hit record high in August: CREA

Supplies from Nayara's Vadinar refinery in India comprised about 70% of Russia's product imports, followed by supplies from South Korea.

New Delhi: Russia imported a record 172,000 tonnes of petroleum products in August, with most of the supplies coming from India, according to a report by Finnish think tank Centre for Research on Energy and the Clean Air (CREA).

The report noted that supplies from Nayara's Vadinar refinery comprised about 70% of Russia's product imports, followed by supplies from South Korea.

“Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s refining capacity have turned tables on the world’s once largest oil product exporter to see them start importing fuels, with imports surging to a record 172,000 tonnes in August—more than seven times the previous monthly high. Russia was forced to import fuel from South Korea and buy back gasoline refined from its own crude in India,” said the report.

All of the gasoline from India was loaded at the Vadinar refinery and sold to Nayara Energy by Rosneft, the CREA said. Rosneft owns 49.13% of Nayara Energy, while Vadinar sourced all of its crude from Russia during the first eight months of 2026, according to the report.

“Each cargo exported from India’s Vadinar refinery to Russia was transferred between vessels in a ship-to-ship operation at the Damietta Lightering Zone off Egypt before unloading at Russia’s Arctic port of Beloe More,” it said.

“In recent months, Russia’s need to buy gasoline from a refinery it partly owns in India and ship it halfway around the world using the same fleet that carries its exports has demonstrated the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes on its domestic refining capacity,” the report said.

Shipping to Russia

Further, in August 2026, Russia imported 18,000 tonnes of South Korean oil products. It noted that Turkey also appears to have started shipping gasoline to Russia, with the first cargoes arriving in September 2026.

Russia typically imports only small volumes of refined oil products, averaging less than 5,000 tonnes per month of seaborne imports between 2023 and 2025. However, after repeated waves of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russia’s energy and refining infrastructure, Russia has, for a while, been facing severe domestic fuel shortages.

Top oil supplier

Russia is the top supplier of crude oil to India, with about 1.9 million barrels per day of supplies in August. In August, China was the largest buyer of Russian oil (50% of Russia’s crude 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. Crude oil constituted 87% of India’s purchases, totalling €4.1 billion. Coal (€379 million) and oil products (€258 million) constituted the remainder of their monthly Russian imports,” it said.

After two consecutive months of record-high crude oil imports from Russia, India’s imports decreased by 24% month-on-month in August. Imports by all three of India’s largest Russian crude-importing refineries remained high in August—the Jamnagar refinery (fell 15% month-on-month), Vadinar refinery (rose 5%), and Indian Oil Corp. Ltd's Paradip refinery (increased a minor 1%).

About the Author

Rituraj Baruah is a special correspondent covering energy, housing, urban affairs, heavy industries and small businesses at Mint. He has reported on diverse sectors over the last eight years including, commodities and stocks market, insolvency and real estate; with previous stints at Cogencis Information Services, Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) and Inc42.

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