MOSCOW: Russia has started seaborne imports of petrol from India, two industry sources said on Wednesday, in an effort to mitigate fuel shortages triggered by Ukrainian attacks on its energy infrastructure.
Fuel shortages are being felt across Russia’s 11 time zones with rationing, long queues at filling stations and a record petrol price increase. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia was in contact with other countries and discussing imports of fuel at acceptable prices.
An industry source said at least 60,000 metric tons of petrol have been dispatched from India to Russia. Another source said that two tankers, with parcels of 30,000 to 40,000 tons each, have been sent.
A third source said that in total, Russia plans to import 400,000 tons of petrol from various countries each month, including from neighbouring Belarus, which has already been exporting fuel to Russia. Petrol consumption in Russia is at least 110,000 tons per day in summer, when demand for fuel is high.
Kazakhstan agrees to supply 50,000 tons of vehicle fuel
It is not clear which Indian refiner will be supplying petrol to Russia. President Vladimir Putin acknowledged on Sunday at a meeting with government ministers and other officials that Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries had triggered fuel shortages in some regions, but said that Russia was dealing with them.
Belarus almost tripled petrol rail supplies to Russia to more than 70,000 tons in the first half of June versus the first half of May, according to calculations and sources. Russia’s parliament approved amendments to its tax code last week aimed at tackling the fuel shortages due to Ukrainian drone attacks, while also offering subsidies on fuel imports, pegged to Indian delivery costs and prices.
India’s crude oil imports from Russia surged to a record high in June, ship tracking data from LSEG and Kpler showed, as refiners snapped up Russian barrels to mitigate the impact of the Strait of Hormuz closure on other sources of supply. Russian oil accounted for more than half of India’s overall imports in June, up from 36.5pc in May, the Kpler data showed.
India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, received about 2.70 million barrels per day of oil from Russia in June, preliminary data from Kpler and LSEG showed.
Kazakhstan supplies
Kazakhstan has agreed to supply 50,000 metric tons of petrol to Russia in July and August as humanitarian aid, four industry sources said on Wednesday. Russia has been beset by fuel shortages, long queues at the filling stations, surging petrol and diesel prices in the past weeks as Ukraine attacked Russian energy infrastructure including oil refineries to undermine funding of Moscow’s war efforts.
Sources said that Kazakhstan’s Pavlodar and Kondensat refineries will supply petrol Ai-95 and Ai-92. Kazakhstan’s energy ministry, in emailed comments, said it has not received a request from Russia’s state entities about the fuel supplies as humanitarian aid.
At the same time, it has not ruled out supplies from the Kondensat plant, which processed naphtha supplied by Russia’s Tatneft oil major. “The possibility of supplying motor petrol produced by Kondensat LLP to Russia in the near future will depend on the level of petroleum product availability on Kazakhstan’s domestic market,” it said.
Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2026