India’s crude oil imports from Russia have jumped by over 50 times since April and now make up for 10 per cent of all crude oil bought from overseas, according to a senior government official. 

Russian oil made up for just 0.2 per cent of all oil imported by India prior to the Ukraine war. 

“Russia oil now makes up 10 per cent of India’s oil import basket in April. It is now among the top-10 suppliers” the official has said. 

As much as 40 per cent of the Russian oil has been bought by private refiners – Reliance Industries and Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy. 

Last month, Russia had overtaken Saudi Arabia to become India’s second-biggest supplier of oil behind Iraq as refiners snapped up Russian crude oil available at a deep discount following the war in Ukraine. 

Indian refiners had bought about 25 million barrels of Russian oil in May. 

Russian-origin crude oil accounted for 10 per cent of India's total seaborne imports in April for the first time, rising from 0.2 per cent throughout 2021 and Q1 2022. 

India, the world’s third-biggest oil-importing and consuming nation, has long defended purchases of crude oil from Russia following President Vladimir Putin ordering the invasion of Ukraine. 

The Oil Ministry had last month stated that “'energy purchases from Russia remain minuscule in comparison to India’s total consumption.'' Iraq remained the top supplier to India in May and Saudi Arabia is now the third biggest supplier.