India is partially cutting back on Russian oil. This will hurt Putin.

• The Indian government is afraid of American sanctions and is looking for alternative sources of oil supply.
• State-owned refineries purchased 22 million barrels of crude oil on the market for delivery in September and October.
• Vladimir Putin will be deprived of $1.3 billion in revenue as a result.

Indian state-controlled oil companies Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) purchased at least 22 million barrels of non-Russian crude oil on the spot market.

This means Vladimir Putin will lose $1.32 billion in revenue. American sanctions are causing a decline in customers for Russian oil.

Deliveries to more than a dozen Indian refineries will be made in September and October. This is the first time in many quarters that the imported raw material is not covered by long-term contracts.

According to Reuters, BPCL purchased 9 million barrels for its own needs, including 1 million from Angola, 1 million from the United States, 2 million from Nigeria, and 3 million from the United Arab Emirates. Indian Oil, in turn, purchased crude from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the UAE.

These actions are the result of the US federal administration imposing additional tariffs on Indian exports to the United States due to purchases of Russian crude oil.

In 2024, India imported 240.54 million tons of crude oil, of which official deliveries from Russia amounted to 87.5 million tons. The U.S. estimates that another 4-5 million tons were also Russian crude, although the documents regarding the raw material's origin were effectively altered during tanker transport.

In May this year, 22.40 million tonnes of crude oil arrived in India by sea, of which 9.01 million tonnes came from Russia, which accounted for 39 per cent of the demand.