At the end of 2025, India sharply reduced its purchases of Russian oil, but the geopolitical situation and the rising value of "black gold" forced the government to begin increasing imports. This is reported by Bloomberg with reference to the movement of tankers.

According to sea-going vessel tracking, Russian oil tankers were moving into Southeast Asia but suddenly changed course and headed for India. At the time of writing, at least one of them has entered the Indian port of Paradip. In total, these tankers contain about 2.16 million barrels of oil.

Recall that last summer, India’s purchases of Russian oil amounted to 2 million barrels per day, but by February they had fallen to 1.1 million. Although analysts predicted that India’s imports would fall further to 400,000-600,000 barrels within months, the geopolitical situation forced the Indian government to change course.

Russian oil is not critical for India today, with Saudi Arabia taking the top spot early this year. Notably, it not only supplies oil to India but also increases purchases from other Middle Eastern producers.