New Delhi: The bulk of India’s crude oil imports from Russia has shifted to little-known traders that had barely supplied the country in the past, as flows from Rosneft have sharply declined.
In the first half of this month, about 0.5 million barrels a day, or roughly 43 per cent of oil imports from Russia came from five traders—Redwood Global Supply, Vistula Delta, Ethos Energy, Alghaf Marine and Slavyansk ECO—which had not shipped a single cargo to India in almost two years before December 2025, according to Kpler, a global real-time data and analytics provider.
Despite US sanctions, Rosneft remained India’s second-largest supplier in the first half of this month. Its shipments plunged about 75 per cent from the 2025 annual average to about 225,000 barrels per day (bpd) during this period, Kpler data showed.
Rosneft had supplied India an average of 912,000 bpd during 2025, accounting for about 53 per cent of India’s total imports from Russia. In the first half of this month, its share dropped to 19 per cent of India’s total Russian imports of 1.179 million bpd, which were about 30 per cent below the 2025 annual average.
Lukoil, another US-sanctioned exporter, supplied about 43,000 bpd in the first half of January, down 84 per cent from its annual average last year. Its share of India’s Russian intake fell to less than 4 per cent from 16 per cent.
RusExport emerged as the largest supplier, delivering about 255,000 bpd in the first half of this month, or roughly a fifth of total oil imports from Russia. While RusExport has been supplying consistently since last May, it had not shipped a single cargo to India in the preceding 16 months.
This month, Redwood Global Supply has shipped about 200,000 bpd, Vistula Delta 145,000 bpd, Ethos Energy 74,000 bpd, Alghaf Marine 50,000 bpd and Slavyansk ECO 43,000 bpd. Between January 2024 and November 2025, none of these traders had shipped a single cargo to India, according to shipping data.
RusExport and Slavyansk ECO are Russian entities, while Redwood Global Supply, Alghaf Marine and Vistula Delta are linked to the UAE.
Rosneft has traditionally marketed crude from its own fields as well as output from smaller producers. With buyers now wary of Rosneft amid sanctions, barrels from non-Rosneft fields appear to be reaching India through alternative suppliers.
Indian buyers have been cautious about the original source of Russian supply and have sought to avoid cargoes linked to sanctioned entities. Reliance Industries, India’s top importer of Russian crude over the past year, did not take any cargoes in the first half of this month. HPCL, HMEL and MRPL, too, did not lift Russian supplies. Indian Oil, Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy and BPCL, however, continue to receive crude from Russia.
