Russia has offered to increase energy trade with India by supplying more crude oil and fertilizers at a time when the world’s third-largest energy consumer is exploring alternatives to meet the oil and gas deficit created by the West Asia conflict.
Moscow also offered liquefied natural gas (LNG), which comes at a time when India is scouting for cargoes from the US and Australia, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has impacted 47 per cent of its LNG imports.
Supply boost
First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Denis Manturov said on Friday that Russian companies have the capacity to steadily increase supplies of oil and LNG to the Indian market.
Manturov noted that by the end of 2025, Russia had increased supplies of in-demand mineral fertilizers to India by 40 per cent and is ready to continue meeting India’s needs for this product. In addition, a joint project for carbamide production is under development.
“Particular attention was paid to cooperation in the oil and gas sector. Denis Manturov confirmed that Russian companies have the capacity to steadily increase supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas to the Indian market,” said a statement by the Russian Embassy in India.
Manturov, who is on a two-day official visit to India, met top ministers and officials, including Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Manturov had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and held discussions.
Particular attention was paid to cooperation in the oil and gas sector. The discussions also covered areas such as industrial cooperation, space, and education, the Russian Embassy said.
“Expanding mutually beneficial trade, investment, and industrial cooperation ties was one of the key topics on the agenda. Specific steps were discussed to create favourable conditions for increasing bilateral trade turnover in the present context,” it noted.
Trade Shift
Meanwhile, Indian refiners shifted back to Russian crude oil buying around 60 million barrels of the geopolitically sensitive commodity from Moscow since March 5th as closure of the Strait of Hormuz impacted 40 per cent of its imports, as per the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES).
In a first, India is buying Russian crude (at sea) at a premium, which sources said has hit as high as $8-9 per barrel. Besides, Russia is also supplying LPG to India.
OIES, in its recent energy comment, pointed out that the scale of the SoH disruption is like “no other seen in oil market history”. In such a scenario, one of the US tools to help put a lid on crude prices has been granting exemptions on sanctioned barrels. Russia has been a clear beneficiary of this measure.
Published on April 3, 2026