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India’s retreat from Russian oil sends China’s Urals imports to a nearly three-year high
China is importing the most Russian Urals crude since 2023 at prices lower than Iranian oil after top buyer India cut imports sharply due to Western sanctions and before a European Union ban on products made from Russian oil, according to trade sources and shipping data.
Tougher Western sanctions on Russian oil producers and pressure from the Trump administration pushed Indian refiners to scale back imports in December and seek alternatives. Top importer Reliance Industries, whose refined products are exported to EU, halted Russian oil imports in January
India’s lower demand boosted the supply of cheap Russian crude for China, providing a buffer for the loss of Venezuelan oil at the world’s top oil importer after Washington raided the OPEC producer and took over the sale of millions of barrels of Venezuelan
China’s crude imports reached 405,000 barrels per day so far this month, the highest level since June 2023, data from analytics firm Kpler showed, with total seaborne imports from Russia close to 1.4 million bpd.
Vortexa data showed that China’s seaborne Russian crude imports surged above 1.5 million bpd in December, up from about 1.2 million bpd in the first eleven months of 2025.
India, December Urals imports fell to 929,000 bpd, the lowest since December 2022, Kpler data showed, versus an average of 1.36 million bpd in 2024 and 1.27 million bpd in 2025.
Urals has lost favour at refineries in India and Turkey that make diesel for export to Europe, two trade sources said, as the EU ban on fuel produced from Russian-origin crude will start on January 21. Refiners supplying Europe must run clean of Russian crude for at least two months before output is eligible for sale.
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