Russia has begun importing fuels from India, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing Kpler data showing that one cargo of 42,000 tons of gasoline from Nayara Energy's Vadinar refinery arrived in Russia earlier this month.

The shipment marks a notable role reversal for Russia, one of the world's largest oil producers and historically a major exporter of refined petroleum products. It illustrates how sustained Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian refineries have eroded the country's domestic fuel production capacity, pushing Moscow to source supplies from abroad.

The Vadinar refinery is partly owned by Rosneft, which supplies the crude oil processed at the facility. Those shipments were disrupted last November, after the United States sanctioned Russia's largest oil exporter. India has become one of the largest buyers of Russian crude since Western sanctions tightened following the invasion of Ukraine, and the Vadinar cargo underscores how crude flowing east can return as finished product — routed through a Rosneft-linked facility in Gujarat state.

According to the report, the Vadinar cargo was loaded in mid-June on a Russian-flagged tanker. It was then shipped to Egypt, where the fuel was transferred to an Omani-flagged carrier before being sent to Russia, where it arrived on August 5.

"The emergence of Indian barrels is particularly notable," Kpler lead analyst Sumit Ritolia told Bloomberg. He said the shipment highlights "the severity of the current domestic petrol imbalance, and the extent to which lower refinery runs are reshaping Russia's traditional product trade flows."

Bloomberg, citing estimates from EA Analytics, said Russia's refinery runs stood at 3.6 million barrels per day in July, more than 30% below the seasonal average. The figures come as Russia's oil export trends show signs of shifting.

Russia's seaborne crude exports fell to their lowest level since May last month, as recovering refinery runs pulled more barrels back into domestic processing and Ukrainian drone attacks disrupted loading at key ports.

Russia shipped 3.71 million barrels per day in the four weeks through August 9, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg and reported earlier this week. In the latest week, shipments averaged 3.25 million barrels per day, down from 3.5 million barrels per day a week earlier.

The fuel shortages caused by refinery attacks are also reverberating beyond Russia. Earlier this year, Moscow banned diesel exports to secure more supply for the domestic market amid the drone strikes, which worsened a supply squeeze already intensified by refinery damage in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. That ban was recently extended until the end of the year.

The extended diesel export ban and the arrival of Indian gasoline in Russian ports suggest that domestic fuel supply pressures persist even as some refinery capacity comes back online. Whether this proves to be an isolated shipment or the beginning of a recurring trade flow will hinge on how quickly Russia can restore refining utilization rates.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com