Key facts
- India's Gulf crude imports were estimated at about 2.1 million bpd in November, against 1.8 million bpd from Russia, per Kpler data cited by Bloomberg.
- Before the Iran war, India's total crude imports via Hormuz averaged about 2.8 million bpd.
- Gulf flows to India fell to as low as 247,000 bpd in April, when the Strait was closed to almost any traffic.
- Bharat Petroleum said at the end of October it would reduce Russian crude purchases in November, citing freight costs and premiums.
India imported an estimated 2.1 million barrels per day of crude oil from the Persian Gulf so far in November, above the 1.8 million bpd flowing from Russia, Bloomberg reported on November 12, 2026, citing data from Kpler. It is the first time Gulf volumes have exceeded Russian flows since the Iran war broke out and disrupted the normal supply chain through the Strait of Hormuz.
Before the war, India's total crude oil imports via Hormuz averaged about 2.8 million bpd. In the early months of the now nine-month-long war, flows from the Persian Gulf to India fell to as low as 247,000 bpd in April, when the Strait was closed to almost any traffic.
Strait of Hormuz flows have recovered in recent weeks, helped by ship-to-ship transfers that have moved closer to India's coastlines amid congestion in the Gulf of Oman and fears of attacks on tankers near the Strait. Last month the waters outside the Strait were so crowded with transfers that the operations expanded to India's West Coast, with the Gulf of Kutch becoming another transfer point for Gulf producers supplying Asian markets.
Russia remains a key crude supplier to India, but the rebound in Hormuz flows and the shorter distance to India have raised Indian imports from Gulf producers. At the end of October, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, one of India's biggest state-owned refiners, said it would reduce its purchases of Russian crude in November, citing high freight costs and premiums for Russian crude against multiple offers for Middle Eastern grades whose prices are falling.