India Boosts Far East Russian ESPO Oil Imports as Middle East Disruptions Shift Trade Flows
Key Takeaways
- •ESPO exports from Russia’s Kozmino port rose 6% in January-July from a year earlier.
- •China remained the largest buyer of ESPO, but its share of shipments from Kozmino declined to 83% from 88%.
- •India’s share of ESPO exports increased to 16% from 12% over the same period.
- •Indian refiners increased ESPO purchases when Chinese imports fell and Middle East deliveries were delayed by supply disruptions.
- •Analysts said India was not taking market share from China but buying volumes that Chinese refiners were not purchasing at the time.
India increased purchases of Russia’s Far East ESPO crude blend in the first seven months of the year as China stepped back from the spot market in the opening months of the Iran war and deliveries to India from the Middle East fell after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
The shift highlights how shipping disruptions and changing buyer behavior can alter crude flows even when overall trade relationships remain intact. For refiners, especially those balancing term contracts against prompt cargo availability, access to alternative grades can become more important when regional supply routes are disrupted.
Total exports of ESPO from Russia’s Far Eastern port of Kozmino rose 6% in January-July from a year earlier, Russian daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday, citing a report by Argus.
China remained the main buyer of ESPO crude, but its share of shipments from Kozmino declined to 83% from 88%. India’s share of ESPO exports, meanwhile, rose to 16% from 12% in the first seven months of 2026, according to data from Vortexa and Kpler cited in the report.
India increased ESPO imports because Chinese oil imports slumped between May and June and because supply disruptions in the Middle East delayed many term cargoes Indian refiners had expected in early summer.
According to Dmitry Prokofiev, director of external communications at NEFT Research, the increase in Indian ESPO imports was driven by logistics and by the Chinese pullback between April and June.
ESPO remains a key feedstock for China’s independent refiners, the so-called teapots, because of its high quality and short delivery times, Prokofiev told Kommersant.
Indian refiners, by contrast, view ESPO as a backup option because its cost and delivery times are higher than those for their preferred Urals blend from Russia. Prokofiev said India raises ESPO imports only when China retreats or when supply disruptions occur.
Analysts say India is not taking ESPO market share away from China. Instead, it has recently taken volumes that Chinese refiners were not buying because total crude imports had been reduced.
Meanwhile, India’s crude oil imports from Russia are estimated to have eased in August from July’s record high, as Ukrainian attacks on Russian export infrastructure and competition from China for Russian barrels weighed on Indian intake of Moscow’s oil.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
