India’s oil imports from both the U.S. and the UAE surged in August, with the American oil coming at a substantial premium compared to the average price India paid for oil imports. File
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In a sign of increasing concentration of India’s oil supplies and its limited options to source from, latest data shows that more than two-thirds of the country’s oil imports came from just three countries — Russia, the U.S., and the UAE — marking a record high share.
Notably, Russia’s share in India’s oil imports fell to around 44% in August 2026, the latest month for which official data is available, from a historic high of 51% in July.
The data shows that India’s oil imports from both the U.S. and the UAE surged in August, with the American oil coming at a substantial premium compared to the average price India paid for oil imports.
Russia’s share remains elevated
India’s total oil imports stood at 191.2 lakh tonnes in August 2026, which was 10.3% lower than in July, but 3.4% higher than in August last year. However, the elevated price of oil has meant that India’s oil import bill was nearly 25% higher in August this year than in the same month last year.
Within this, Russian oil accounted for 84.8 lakh tonnes of Indian oil imports, or 44.3% of the total. In terms of India’s oil import bill of $12.2 billion in August 2026, payments to Russia accounted for 44.5%.
That said, India imported 23% less oil from Russia in August 2026 than in July, although this figure was still 22.5% higher than in August last year.
India’s elevated oil imports from Russia have been a sore point in its relations with the U.S. and its President Donald Trump, who in September signed into law an Act that could see tariffs of up to 100% being levied on countries that import large amounts of Russian oil and gas, as India does.
Imports from the U.S., UAE surge
On the other hand, India’s oil imports from the U.S. once again surged in August 2026 to 9.7 lakh tonnes, making up 5.1% of India’s total oil imports that month. In terms of quantity, this was nearly 82% higher than in July, and more than 130% higher than in August last year.
The data also shows that India paid an average of $810.6 per tonne of oil to the U.S., much higher than the average price of $640 per tonne it paid across all its oil imports in August. Oil from the U.S. has been costlier than average since June 2026.
Notably, India’s oil imports from the UAE also jumped in August 2026 as the two countries established alternate supply routes through ports relatively unimpacted by the war in West Asia. Oil imports from the UAE, at 33 lakh tonnes, made up 17.4% of India’s total oil imports and 16.9% of its oil import bill.
Taken together, Russia, the U.S., and the UAE account for 66.8% of India’s total oil imports by volume and an even higher 67.8% of its oil import bill.
Published – October 15, 2026 10:57 pm IST
