Over the last decade or so, India has complied with U.S. pressure to reduce oil imports from countries it has sought to isolate, such as Venezuela, Iran, and Russia, even though they were important sources for India. Once the U.S. pressure has eased, official data show that India has almost immediately turned back to these sources of oil.
The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday (September 18, 2026) issued a strong statement asserting India’s strategic independence on energy against the backdrop of the proposed U.S. Bill that could see tariffs of up to 100% being levied on India as a penalty for its imports of Russian oil.
“As stated on several earlier occasions, India remains firmly committed to ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people,” the statement said. “It will continue to do so through diversified sourcing and based on evolving market dynamics.”
It further said that, in its communications with the U.S. on the implications of such tariffs, the Indian side also “made clear its determination to take all necessary measures to protect its trade and economic interests”.
Data shows that protecting India’s “trade and economic” interests has, in the past, coincided closely with the U.S. sanctions and tariff programme.
Vanishing Venezuelan oil
While Venezuela has never been a dominant source of oil for India, its share in India’s oil imports stood at a relatively high 6.7% in 2017-18, the sixth highest out of 41 countries that India imported oil from.
This share fell slightly to 6.4% in 2018-19, but India’s imports from elsewhere were also growing. India’s oil imports from Venezuela grew 23.7% in 2018-19 to $7.2 billion.
This is where things changed. In January 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump once again widened sanctions on Venezuela to include its oil sector. India complied with these sanctions within the year.
While Venezuela’s share in India’s oil imports fell to 5.9% in 2019-20, it crashed to 1.1% by 2020-21, and further to zero by 2021-22. It remained at zero in 2022-23 as well.
Under the Biden administration, India resumed small amounts of imports from Venezuela, but its share remained below 1%.
However, Mr. Trump partially lifted sanctions on Venezuelan oil companies in March 2026 after he orchestrated a leadership change in the South American nation. Between April and July 2026, the share of Venezuelan oil in India’s imports swung back up to 4.8%.
Isolating Iran
The Iranian oil import trend is even more stark. Mr. Trump in November 2018 reimposed wide-ranging sanctions on Iran in a bid to quell its supposed nuclear weapon ambitions.
Prior to this, Iran single-handedly supplied one-tenth of India’s oil imports. However, once the sanctions were imposed, this share fell to 1% the very next year, and then to zero by 2020-21.
India imported no oil from Iran for the six years spanning 2020-26.
Then, in March 2026, Mr. Trump once again allowed Iran to sell limited quantities of oil in the global market in an effort to cool the price of oil that had shot up because he had attacked Iran at the end of February.
In the four months of April-July 2026, Iran’s share in India’s oil import bill has already risen to 1.1%.
Russian reliance
India’s energy relationship with Russia has been more resilient, but it too has bowed before U.S. pressure.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the subsequent spike in global oil prices, and the Western sanctions levied on Russia, India turned to discounted Russian oil to meet its energy needs.
Russia’s share in India’s oil imports rose consistently to largely hover between 30-40% during the period July 2024 to July 2025.
However, in August 2025, Mr. Trump hiked tariffs on India from 25% to 50% as a penalty for its import of Russian oil. Following this, the data shows India gradually began cutting back on Russian oil imports.
Russia’s share in India’s oil import bill fell to 19.3% by February 2026, from nearly double that when the tariffs were hiked. Then, in February 2026 itself, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Mr. Trump’s tariff regime, thereby also removing the penal tariffs.
Immediately after, India began ramping up its oil imports from Russia, with the latest government data showing Russia’s share hitting more than 51% in July 2026. This also, of course, coincided with the start of the U.S. attack on Iran, the closure of the vital Strait of Hormuz, and global oil prices shooting up.
Published – September 18, 2026 04:47 pm IST
