India just quietly became Russia’s biggest crude oil lifeline outside of China. Refiners across the country pushed Russian crude imports to an all-time high in June, with ship-tracking data showing deliveries of approximately 2.7 million barrels per day. That’s not a marginal increase. It’s a roughly 30% jump from May’s figures of 1.95 to 2.13 million bpd.
For context, Russian oil now makes up more than half of everything India imports on the crude front. In May, that share sat at 36.5%. In the span of a single month, India’s dependence on Russian barrels went from significant to dominant.
What’s driving the surge
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, triggered by escalating conflicts in the Middle East, has effectively choked off one of the world’s most critical oil transit routes. With that option constrained, Indian refiners have been scrambling for alternatives, and Russian crude, already flowing at discounted prices since Western sanctions hit in 2022, became the obvious play.
India’s total crude imports remained remarkably steady at around 4.9 million bpd in June. The composition of those imports, though, shifted dramatically. Russian barrels simply displaced volumes that would have otherwise come from Middle Eastern producers.
