RoydadNaft –  India’s Reliance Industries, once the country’s largest buyer of Russian oil, announced Tuesday that it expects no deliveries of Russian crude in January and has received none in the past three weeks, signalling a significant reduction in India’s imports of discounted Russian oil due to intensifying Western sanctions.

The private refining giant issued a statement on X explicitly denying a Bloomberg report, based on tanker-tracking data from Kpler, which claimed three vessels carrying Russian oil were heading to its vast Jamnagar refinery complex.

India emerged as the top purchaser of discounted Russian seaborne crude following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a move that drew criticism from Western nations arguing that such purchases help fund Russia’s war effort through oil revenues.

With Reliance suspending purchases, India’s overall imports of Russian crude are expected to drop further this month, leaving China as Moscow’s main remaining major buyer.

Sources told Reuters last week that Indian authorities have directed refiners to submit weekly reports on purchases of Russian and U.S. oil, as New Delhi seeks to secure a broader trade agreement with Washington.

Stricter U.S. and EU sanctions have already restricted flows, driving India’s Russian crude imports to a three-year low of approximately 1.2 million barrels per day in December—a roughly 40% decline from a June peak of around 2 million bpd, according to industry sources and Kpler data.