Russia imports Indian fuel as Ukrainian strikes cripple refineries: report

Russia is importing petrol refined in India as Ukrainian strikes disrupt its oil-processing network and create widespread fuel shortages, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

A tanker carrying about 42,000 metric tons of petrol produced at Nayara Energy’s refinery in Vadinar, Gujarat, is heading to Russia’s Beloye More terminal, the report said, citing shipping data from commodity intelligence firm Kpler.

The shipment illustrates an unusual reversal in the two countries’ energy trade. India has sharply increased purchases of Russian crude in recent months, while Russia is now buying refined fuel originating from an Indian plant to compensate for damage to its own refineries.

The report said the cargo was loaded onto the tanker Agni at Vadinar before being transferred to another vessel, Garnet, near Egypt earlier this month.

The newspaper said the fuel was expected to reach Russia shortly.

Press Insider could not independently verify the vessels’ cargoes, route or destination.

Reuters reported on 2 July that traders had sold petrol produced by Nayara to Russia, citing two people with direct knowledge of the transaction.

A tanker invoice reviewed by Reuters showed that Agni had loaded petrol from Vadinar and sailed on 20 June. LSEG vessel-tracking data placed the ship near the Suez Canal and travelling north at the time of that report.

Oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri told reporters that Indian companies were not selling fuel directly to Russia, although he said it was possible that traders had purchased Indian-origin fuel and resold it there.

Nayara operates a refinery with capacity of about 400,000 barrels a day at Vadinar. Russia’s Rosneft holds a 49% stake in the Indian refiner.

The company has relied more heavily on trading firms for imports and exports since European Union sanctions imposed in 2025 complicated transactions with suppliers and customers.

Russia has faced shortages of petrol and diesel after repeated Ukrainian attacks on refineries and other energy infrastructure.

Reuters reported on 16 July that the disruption had caused queues, price increases and restrictions on fuel sales across several Russian regions.

Conditions had improved in Moscow after the authorities increased imports and approved the use of lower-quality fuel, but shortages remained severe in parts of southern Russia, the Volga region, Siberia and Russian-controlled Crimea.

The Indian shipment comes as refiners in the country increase exports amid strong international prices for petrol and diesel.

India’s exports of light and middle distillates are expected to reach 1.55 million barrels a day in July, nearly double their May level, according to Kpler data cited separately by Reuters. That would be the second-highest monthly volume in Kpler records going back to 2017.

The trade reflects the increasingly complicated flows created by war, sanctions and refinery outages. Russian crude is being shipped to India for processing, while some petrol of Indian origin is being redirected through traders to a Russian market struggling to replace lost production.