India's crude imports surge as Middle East offsets Russian shortfall

Business Oct 23, 2026

India just saw a big spike in crude oil imports, up more than 16% from August and 9% higher than last year, hitting 22.26 million metric tons.

This boost mainly came from the Middle East stepping up supplies, which helped balance out less oil coming in from Russia.

India oil product imports down 40%

While crude imports went up, India actually imported fewer finished oil products, down slightly from last month and about 40% less than last year.

On the flip side, exports of these products grew over 6%.

LPG imports edged up, but fuel oil imports dropped sharply by almost 99%, and jet fuel exports soared by more than 30%.

All this points to some real changes in how India is trading energy right now.