Indian refiners' fuel exports to West up 43% in September
What's the story
Refineries in India, Turkiye, and Brunei, including the Jamnagar facility owned by Reliance Industries, have witnessed a significant increase in fuel exports to Western countries. According to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), these refineries exported oil products worth €1 billion ($1.2 billion) in September. This marks a whopping 43% rise from August's figures. The surge comes despite European Union's ban on imports of oil products refined from Russian crude starting January 2026.
Export details
Jamnagar refinery supplied majority of oil products
The Jamnagar refinery played a vital role in this surge, supplying six out of seven cargoes that were offloaded at EU ports in September.
The facility also supplied the group's largest US-bound exports, worth €122 million.
Between July and September, Russian crude made up 32% of the refinery's crude imports.
Ban loophole
CREA proposes loophole closure in EU's ban on Russian crude
The EU's ban on imports of oil products refined from Russian crude has a loophole.
CREA says the restrictions exempt net crude exporters, allowing countries to export more crude than they import while still processing Russian-origin oil at their refineries.
The research group has proposed applying the ban at the refinery level, prohibiting oil products from any facility that has processed Russian crude in the last six months, regardless of its declared origin.
Import decline
India's imports of Russian crude fell by 13% in September
Despite the surge in refined product exports, India's imports of Russian crude fell by 13% in September. This marks the second consecutive monthly decline and the lowest since April.
The drop was seen across all three of India's largest importing refineries: Jamnagar (27% drop), Indian Oil Corporation's Paradip (21% decline), and Nayara Energy's Vadinar (8% decrease).
Smaller facilities also saw a decrease, with HMEL Mundra Oil Terminal cutting intake by 74% and Kochi refinery witnessing a month-on-month decline of 32%.
Purchasing power
India remains Russia's 2nd-largest buyer of fossil fuels
Despite the decline in crude purchases, India remained Russia's second-largest buyer of fossil fuels in September.
The country spent €4.1 billion on Russian hydrocarbons, with crude oil making up around 88% of its purchases.
Since December 2022, India has accounted for 37% of Russia's crude exports, compared to China's 50%.