India’s richest man earned more than €700 million selling Russian oil to the US

Mukesh Ambani, whose fortune is estimated at $95 billion, earned €724 million over the year from exporting fuel made from Russian oil to the United States.

The Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) reported this, according to The Moscow Times.

In 2024, Mukesh’s company, Reliance Industries, signed a 10-year contract with Rosneft for the supply of oil worth $12-13 billion a year. The Russian company has pledged to supply up to 500 thousand barrels daily, which is about half of all Rosneft’s sea supplies from Russian ports.

According to analysts, the US spent 2.8 billion euros on fuel imports from refineries in India and Turkey. Products manufactured using Russian raw materials accounted for €1.3 billion of this total. The share of Reliance’s refineries in Jamnagar amounted to €2 billion, of which €724 million was for fuel made from Russian oil.

Russia received about 750 million euros in tax revenues from such exports. The supply of gasoline alone amounted to 294 million euros, sufficient to “fill almost every car in Florida,” according to CREA analysts.

Russia has become the largest supplier of oil to India, overtaking the United Arab Emirates. Russian oil imports to India increased in March, almost returning to normal levels after a three-month drop.

Data recently published by the OEC shows that China and India have become the most important markets for Russia, accounting for almost half of all Russian exports.

China accounts for about 33% and India for about 17%. Before the invasion of Ukraine, in 2021, China’s share was just under 15% and India’s was less than 2%. The infographic from the OEC shows that the core of Russia’s exports consists of crude petroleum sold to China and India.

According to the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), at least 70% of all Russian crude oil shipments by sea come from its “shadow fleet,” mostly worn-out and uninsured vessels, with India, China, and Turkey together buying 95% of this raw material.

Moscow’s reorientation of its export flows from 2022 is driven by two factors: the EU no longer buys Russian pipeline gas and oil directly, while Beijing and New Delhi are importing energy from Russia at an increasing rate. So, sanctions against Russia and Russia’s war against Ukraine greatly benefited the economies of China and India.

In 2022, the Western coalition adopted the Price Cap to limit Russia’s ability to fund its war against Ukraine through the sale of its oil. The Price Cap prohibits maritime providers from engaging with Russian-origin crude oil that exceeds $60 per barrel in price.

In December 2022, the Western coalition set an upper limit of $60 per barrel for Russian oil exports by sea. The sanctions also prohibit Western companies from providing oil transportation services from Russia at a price higher than the ceiling.

The restriction has forced Russia to redirect its oil sales to much more distant countries, such as China and India, and to invest in “shadow fleets” of worn-out tankers that are not officially tracked. 

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