How much oil does India buy from US?

India could buy more oil from the United States, according to Piyush Goyal.

The Commerce and Industry Minister, speaking at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, said India is a huge importer of energy from around the world.

“We are big importers of energy from across the world, including the US. We expect to increase our trade with the US on energy products in the years to come. And being close friends, natural partners, our energy security goals will have a very high involvement of US involvement, which will ensure price stability. Which will ensure diversified sources of energy for India and help us unlock limitless possibilities with the US on various fronts, energy and beyond,” Goyal said at the event in New York.

Goyal’s remarks come in the backdrop of the United States imposing a 25 per cent tariff on India plus an additional 25 per cent for buying Russian oil. This also comes as the countries look to get negotiations on a bilateral trade deal back on track.

India’s energy needs

First, it must be noted that India is one of the world’s biggest energy consumers – behind only the United States and China – and has a voracious appetite for crude oil.

India needs approximately 5.2 million barrels per day to fulfil its energy needs. However, it does not produce nearly enough oil to do so, which is why it imports around 85 per cent of its energy needs.

India in the 2023-2024 financial year imported approximately 232.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of crude oil. It imported an estimated 4.84 million bpd last year. This number has increased in 2025 to 4.88 million bpd till March 2025.

Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates are India’s major suppliers.

Russia in 2024 comprised around 36 per cent of India’s crude oil imports, down from 39 per cent in 2023. Meanwhile, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) share rose to 51.5 per cent in 2024 compared to 49.6 per cent in 2023.

Indian refiners have stepped up purchases of Middle Eastern grades since late 2024 as Russian supplies decreased. However, Russia remains India’s top individual supplier of oil followed by Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

What about US share?

While India’s oil import from the US declined by around 95,000 bpd in 2023 compared to 2022, the trend seems to be reversing slowly.

New Delhi in 2024 imported around 158,000 bpd of crude oil from Washington – around 3.5 per cent of its total crude oil imports. In December, the United States was India’s fifth-largest seller of oil with sales estimated at $413.61 million (Rs 36,686 crore).

That has only increased massively in the intervening months.

According to a report, India between January and April this year imported 6.31 million tonnes of crude oil from the United States. That number was at 1.69 million tonnes in the same period last year – a 270 per cent increase. India has also imported $3.78 billion (Rs 3.35 lakh crore) worth of crude oil from America in the January-June period compared to $1 billion (Rs 88,690 crore) in the same period last year.

The US share of India’s total oil imports is also on the rise. This year, Washington comprises around 7 per cent of India’s oil imports. The US share of India’s crude oil imports in April 2024 was around 4.5 per cent. This April, that figure has risen to 12 per cent.

Between January and June, India’s imports of US crude increased 51 per cent – from 0.18 million bpd last year to 0.271 million bpd.

In March, Washington was New Delhi’s fourth-largest supplier of oil. This came after India’s top refiner, Indian Oil, purchased 5 million barrels of US West Texas Intermediate crude oil, which will be delivered in October and November. Meanwhile, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Reliance Industries each bought two million barrels of WTI crude.

By July, India was buying around 8 per cent of its total oil imports from the United States compared to 3 per cent earlier. The growth in imports between the two months was 23 per cent.

India has signalled that it stands ready to buy more crude oil from the United States.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri earlier this year said India would be open to increasing its energy import from the United States. He said it was price and not ideology that determined India’s oil imports.

“A few years ago, we did not import any energy from the United States. Now we are importing about $15–20 billion (Rs 13.30–17.74 lakh crore) from the United States. It is entirely conceivable that we will import more from the United States. There is more and more oil coming onto the international market, particularly from countries in the Western Hemisphere,” Puri told Newsweek’s Opportunity India podcast.

These developments, as well as the impending India-US trade deal, will go some way towards addressing the trade deficit between the two countries, which was at $45 billion (Rs 3.99 lakh crore) last year. The trade deficit has emerged as an obsession of US President Donald Trump during his second term. He often accuses countries of ‘ripping America off’. However, some say that when certain revenue streams are included, the United States is actually sitting at a massive surplus of billions with India.

Why India buys Russian oil

India prior to 2022 bought a fraction of its oil from Russia. It would rely on traditional suppliers in the Middle East such as Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. That year, OPEC’s market share in India was 64.5 per cent.

However, after Russia was sanctioned by the West in 2022, it offered India crude oil at significantly discounted rates. New Delhi, along with China, has saved billions of dollars on its oil bill by buying crude oil from Russia. Today, Russia comprises nearly a third of all the crude oil India purchases – up from a minuscule 0.02 per cent in 2023. India remains the second-biggest buyer of Russian crude oil after China.

Meanwhile, OPEC’s market share in India decreased to 50 per cent in 2023 and then 51.5 per cent in 2024.

The year 2025 has seen India continuing to buy Russian crude oil – although at a significantly reduced discount compared to earlier years. India’s import of Russian oil rose 7.3 per cent from 2024 to 1.76 million bpd in March 2025, the data show.

However, experts say it will not be cheap or easy for India to get off Russian oil. They said it could take time for India to ‘diversify’ its energy suppliers – find alternate sellers – and add billions to India’s oil bill.

Nor will it be easy for India, which buys mostly light sweet grades such as WTI Midland from the United States, to massively increase its crude oil purchases from Washington.

With inputs from agencies