Russian crude deliveries to India crossed $43 billion in 2025 and rose 25% in the first half of 2026

Russia is emerging as a key energy security partner for India, supplying around half of the country’s oil imports, with crude deliveries exceeding $43 billion in 2025 and rising 25% in the first six months of 2026, a senior Russian diplomat said.

“Apart from a close alignment between Russia and India at the political level, what drives this cooperation forward is the complementary nature of our economies,” Vladimir Ladanov, minister-counsellor at the Russian embassy in India, said while addressing the Asia Energy Security Dialogue last Saturday.

“It is especially evident in the oil sector with India buying crude from Russia and processing it at its refineries into oil products to satisfy domestic demand and make good profit by selling them abroad.”


“It is no wonder that Russia’s largest direct investment in India is Nayara Energy where Rosneft has a minority stake,” he said.

Nayara sources its crude oil from Russia, turns it into oil products at its Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, second-largest in India, and then sells petrol and diesel at over 7,000 petrol stations to Indian consumers, in addition to supplying many foreign customers, Ladanov said.

Russia and India are also exploring partnerships in the gasification of Indian cities, construction of new oil, gas and petrochemical facilities and development of energy resources in India, he said.

He also highlighted existing and future Indian investments in Russia’s energy sector.

Russia and India have each invested around $15 billion in each other’s oil and gas enterprises, Ladanov said. Indian partners have opportunities to expand such investments with the development of the Ust-Luga liquefied natural gas plant and related LNG shipment projects in Russia, he said.

Along with ONGC Videsh’s participation in the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia’s Far East, Oil India Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat PetroResources have acquired stakes in several Russian enterprises, including Vankorneft and Taas-Yuriakh in the Arctic, Ladanov said.

Indian companies are exploring opportunities offered by the Vostok Oil cluster as well as new LNG projects on Russia’s Arctic shelf, he said, referring to the development of Russia’s Arctic energy deposits and their shipment along the Northern Sea Route.

In nuclear power generation, Russia remains India’s most important and only international partner, Ladanov said.

“When the western powers introduced sanctions against India after its nuclear tests in 1998, Russia continued delivering on our flagship project, the Kudankulam nuclear power plant,” he said. “We look forward to cooperating with India on a new nuclear power plant project once the government of India identifies a suitable site for its construction.”

New opportunities are opening up in land-based and floating small modular reactors, the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear science and medicine. India’s SHANTI Act has also offered new opportunities for cooperation with the private sector in nuclear energy generation, Ladanov said.

The dialogue was organised by the Indic Researchers Forum. India will serve as the first-ever official partner country at the Russia Energy Week International Forum in Moscow next week.