Russia pulled in €726 million per day from fossil fuel exports in May 2026. That’s a 2% bump from the previous month, achieved without any meaningful increase in export volumes.
China remains Russia’s most important energy customer by a wide margin, accounting for roughly 50% of crude oil exports and about 38% of total fossil fuel revenues. India picks up another 36% of crude purchases. Together, they’ve essentially replaced Europe as the backbone of Russia’s energy trade.
Turkey, meanwhile, has carved out a niche as the leading importer of Russian oil products.
But here’s the thing: Europe hasn’t actually left the building. The EU still accounts for 49% of Russian LNG imports. Spain doubled its LNG purchases from Russia in May, a move that raised eyebrows given that Madrid implemented a ban on new short-term contracts just weeks earlier, on April 25. The ban apparently didn’t apply to existing agreements.
Crude oil revenues specifically hit €362 million daily, with volumes rising 8% even as Ukrainian drone strikes hammered the Taman terminal hard enough to cut oil-product loadings there by 53% in mid-May.
