What is known about the record contract for the purchase of oil between India and Russia

It is noted that the Indian corporation will thus increase purchases of Russian oil by 23%.

In particular, we are talking about deliveries of almost 500,000 barrels of oil per day, which is 0.5% of all world consumption and half of Rosneft's sea exports.

Under the terms of the new contract, starting next year, Reliance will receive about 20-21 Aframax tankers of 80,000-100,000 tons of oil and three tankers of 100,000 tons of fuel oil each month.

Deliveries will be made to the world's largest oil refining complex Reliance in the state of Gujarat. The price will be tied to the average price of oil in Dubai.

In 2024, Reliance had an agreement with Rosneft to purchase 3 million barrels of oil per month, and the company regularly bought oil through intermediaries.

How Indian refineries help Russia circumvent Western sanctions on oil sales

Indian oil refineries have gone to full capacity processing Russian oil, oil products from which are sold to Western countries despite sanctions.

After the start of the Kremlin's full-scale war against Ukraine, the aggressor country increased the export of its own crude oil by 900%.

So, only during 2023, Russian oil supplies increased to 82 million tons compared to 4.5 million tons in 2021.

It is emphasized that this is due to the sending of Russian crude oil for processing to India, from where finished petroleum products are exported to EU countries.

Russian oil supplies to China also increased by a third — from 80 million tons in 2021 to 107 million tons in 2023.

As a result, 78% of Russian oil exports went to China and India, while in 2021 their share was 32%.

Thus, Chinese and Indian oil traders are responsible for the rapid increase in the number of "shadow fleet" tankers.