Russia received its first shipment of gasoline from India last week as Moscow sought to ease domestic fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian drone attacks on its oil refineries, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing ship-tracking data.
Data from market analytics firm Kpler showed that the Indian gasoline arrived at a Russian port on August 5. The fuel was supplied by Nayara Energy, an Indian refinery partly owned by Russian state-controlled oil company Rosneft.
The Russian-flagged tanker Cyclone reportedly loaded around 42,000 metric tons of gasoline from the Vadinar refinery in western India in mid-June before transferring the cargo through a network of shadow-fleet tankers off Egypt’s coast.
Reuters reported last month that Russia had begun discreetly sourcing gasoline from Indian refineries to shore up domestic fuel supplies. Russian officials have since stated that the domestic fuel market has partially stabilized.
Moscow had previously depended largely on fuel imports from Belarus and Kazakhstan to counter shortages triggered by intensified Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil facilities. The sustained long‑range attacks also forced Russia—ranked as the world’s second‑largest crude exporter and third‑largest supplier of refined petroleum products—to impose a ban on fuel exports through the end of 2026.
As domestic supplies tightened, authorities introduced fuel rationing measures across Russia and in annexed Crimea. The shortages emerged during the peak summer travel period and the ongoing agricultural season.
Analysts cited by Bloomberg reported that Ukrainian strikes reduced Russia’s crude processing capacity to 3.6 million barrels per day in July.
Meanwhile, the average gasoline price in Russia has risen 17.7% since the start of the year, though it slipped 1.4% last week, bringing the national average down to 77.69 rubles per liter ($3.61 per gallon) as of August 3.
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