India will continue to buy crude oil and cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas or LPG) from Russia, even after the US’s one-month waiver of sanctions on such imports has expired, according to two people aware of the development.
In early March, the US briefly waived sanctions on Russian oil and petroleum products that were already in transit, amid concerns over global supply disruptions linked to the West Asia war. The waiver will not be extended, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday.
The first person cited above said waiver on sanctions is the US’s prerogative, and India’s imports would not depend on it. “Efforts are on for further LPG purchases from Russia. Also, import of both crude and LPG is likely to continue from non-sanctioned entities,” this person said on condition of anonymity.
Indian are in talks for future imports after recently tying up a total of 800,000 tonnes of LPG supplies from Russia, Australia and the US, the first person said.
To be sure, the US has emerged as a key LPG supplier to India after signing a deal last November to supply 10% of the country’s total requirement in 2026, while the contracted LPG imports from Russia are not significant and are yet to reach India.
“Even now, the quantum of import (from Russia) tied up is not very significant, and talks are on for more LPG supplies,” the first person added.
The second person said that the US will continue to be India’s key LPG supplier in the current scenario. Canada is another country which would supply LPG to India, according to the government. Mint earlier reported that talks are underway with Angola for sourcing of cooking gas.
On , West Asia accounted for around 60% of India’s total crude oil imports before the outbreak of the war on 28 February, government officials said.
This has now come down to about 30%, even as imports of Russian crude oil doubled on a month-on-month basis in March, an analysis by Finland-headquartered think tank, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea), showed.
According to Crea, India was the second-highest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in March after China, importing a total of €5.8 billion of Russian hydrocarbons.
“The biggest shift was in state-owned refineries’ imports from Russia, which saw a massive 148% increase, presumably due to Russian barrels being more available in the spot market, which serve as their primary source of imports,” it said in its analysis of Russian fossil fuel exports and sanctions for March.
Meanwhile, the Indian government has maintained that India has diversified its energy imports and procures oil from wherever it is commercially viable. “We have been buying oil from diversified sources,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs told reporters on Wednesday.
Addressing a recent conference, and natural gas secretary Neeraj Mittal said India has diversified its crude procurement sources to 41 countries compared to 27 countries a few years ago, while LNG is currently imported from 30 countries compared to six earlier. Currently, India imports LPG from 16 countries compared to 10 earlier.
“In this current scenario we are looking to get energy, particularly LPG, from every possible source,” an executive with an oil refiner, requesting anonymity, said, adding that imports that have been tied up recently would ease the situation once they reach Indian ports.
“The US will be the primary source for LPG till West Asia supplies don’t pick up. And regarding crude, the waiver did help, but imports from clean, non-sanctioned entities will continue as was the case earlier,” this executive added.
Queries emailed to the Russian embassy in India, and the Union ministries of petroleum and natural gas, and external affairs remained unanswered till press time.
The LPG crunch
The issue gains significance as nearly 340 million Indian households use LPG for cooking. This demand was badly impacted after India’s main source of LPG imports—West Asia—was almost shut down from restrictions on shipping on the Strait of .
Overall, India imports up to 65% of its annual LPG requirement of 33 million tonnes, and 90% of these imports are dependent on West Asia.
The Centre took a series of measures to mitigate the situation, including directing refiners to ramp up LPG production and prioritised its supplies to households.
According to a petroleum ministry statement on Thursday, while LPG supply continues to be affected by the prevailing geopolitical situation, no dry-outs have been reported at LPG distributorships.
In the past weeks, there were instances of panic booking across the country and long queues were witnessed outside retail LPG distribution centres.