Crucial dependence: West Asia’s share in Indian oil imports rose to 54% just before the Iran war

India entered the energy crisis brought on by the Iran war particularly susceptible to disruptions in West Asia, the latest government data shows. Not only was India importing nearly 91% of its crude oil requirements as of February 2026, a historic high, but more than 54% of these imports came from West Asian countries — their second-highest share in nearly 3.5 years.

The analysis by The Hindu of data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shows that the volume of India’s total oil imports in February 2026 increased nearly 33% to 205.3 lakh tonnes over February last year. 

Also read | As West Asia war threatens gas supply, remembering a gas grid India never built 

That is, India imported a third more oil in February 2026 than it did a year earlier. 

Further, according to data with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, India’s oil imports accounted for 90.8% of the total oil processed by Indian refineries in February 2026, up from an already historically-high 90.2% in the first half of 2025-26.

Sourcing from West Asia

Not only has India’s dependence on oil imports risen, but it has also recently increased its dependence on the West Asian region. This has come as it had, until the outbreak of the war in West Asia, sought to reduce Russian oil imports in line with demands from the U.S. 

Russia’s share in the volume of oil India imports rose to 26.5% in February 2026, but was still significantly lower than the peak of 40.2% it had reached in May last year. 

On the other hand, the share of oil imports from India’s West Asian sources — Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar — rose to a combined 54.4% in February 2026. Apart from December 2025, when this figure hit 56.8%, this was their highest share since September 2022.

However, those sources are now constrained due to the war, with officials in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry confirming to The Hindu that India’s oil imports from Russia have increased “big time” in March 2026, but this time without the benefit of the discount Russia was earlier providing.

The official data on India’s oil imports in March will be released in early May.    

Expensive oil

The data shows that not only was India importing a large quantity of oil in the lead up to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, but that it was also benefiting from a crash in prices. The price of the Indian basket of crude oil in February 2026 stood at $69 per barrel. Priced had averaged about $78 in the previous financial year.

The Indian basket comprises a weighted average of prices of different grades of oil in Oman and Dubai, along with the price of Brent.

Due to the war in West Asia, this figure shot up to $113.5 per barrel in March 2026, and has further increased to nearly $126 as of April 7, 2026.