India was the second-largest importer of Russian crude oil in October after China, with purchases touching 2.5 billion compared with Beijing’s 3.7 billion, according to the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
India’s overall fossil-fuel imports from Russia reached 3.1 billion compared with China’s 5.8 billion.
At 2.7 billion, Turkiye ranked third, while the EU was the fourth largest importer at 1.1 billion.
The West has been pressuring India and China to curb purchases of Russian oil, which they argue are helping fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Last month, the US imposed sanctions on Russia’s top two oil exporters-Rosneft and Lukoil-with the impact of these measures expected to be reflected in India and China’s December import data.
China also continued to be the biggest buyer of Russian coal, ahead of India and Turkiye. India imported 351 million worth of Russian coal and 222 million worth of oil products in October.
Turkiye was the largest buyer of Russian oil products last month, with imports valued at 957 million, nearly half of which was diesel. It also purchased 929 million worth of Russian pipeline gas and 572 million worth of crude.
The EU imported 824 million of Russian LNG and pipeline gas in October and bought 311 million worth of Russian crude.
South Korea remained the fifth-largest importer of Russian fossil fuels. More than half (53 per cent) of its imports-valued at 215 million-were coal, followed by LNG (107 million) and oil products (80 million).>
