According to preliminary data from Kpler, OilX and Kpler, India's crude imports from Russia should have increased slightly from the previous month, despite pressure from Washington.

Kpler data shows that India's Russian crude oil imports increased to 1.48 million barrels a day (bpd), from 1.44 in September. OilX attributed October imports to the same level, and stated that September imports were 1,43 million barrels per day (bpd). Data excludes oil from Kazakhstan which was exported by Russia.

India's Russian oil deliveries are expected to slow down in November, after the U.S. sanctioned its two largest suppliers in an attempt to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Indian refiners were prompted to stop new orders and search for alternative products on the spot market.

Reliance Industries in India, Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals, and HPCL-Mittal Energy stopped buying Russian oil. Other refiners may consider purchasing oil from non-sanctioned Russian suppliers.

Sumit Ritolia, Kpler analyst, said that "Russian crude imports won't fall until November 21 but will definitely drop after this."

New U.S. sanctions have targeted Russia's top two oil producers, Lukoil & Rosneft. The U.S. gave companies until November 21, 2018 to cease their transactions with the two Russian oil producers.

Ritolia stated that "we see higher imports during the first three week (of November)".

Since the U.S. sanctions have been introduced, Reliance has purchased millions of barrels on the spot market.

Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals purchased 2 million barrels from Glencore through an auction to replace Russian supplies in December, according to sources.

Indian Oil invited bids on 24 million barrels from the Americas in the first quarter 2026. This was revealed by a document that we reviewed on Thursday.

According to the International Energy Agency, India became the biggest buyer of Russian crude oil after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. It imported 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first nine month of 2025. This is around 40% of Russia’s total exports. (Reporting and editing by Thomas Derpinghaus; Mohi Nrayan)

(source: Reuters)