New Delhi. On one hand, European countries have opened a front against Russia, while on the other hand, their fuel needs are not being met without Russian oil. Therefore they have to import refined oil from other countries. India has benefited greatly from this. There has been a tremendous jump in petroleum exports from India to Spain this year. The amount of refined petroleum sent by India to Spain in September 2025 was about 46,000 percent more than last year. And the thing to note is that crude oil is coming to India from Russia only.
Let us tell you that in September last year, India had exported petroleum worth only 1.1 million dollars to Spain, whereas in September this year this figure reached 513.7 million dollars. If compared month-to-month, the increase is more than 61,000 percent.
According to the exclusive report of Moneycontrol, the direct effect of this boom was that India’s total exports to Spain also increased by 151 percent in September. According to experts, this increase happened because Indian refiners are now taking advantage of the increasing demand for fuel in Southern Europe and Iberia region, especially due to demand for aviation fuel and mid-distillates (such as diesel and kerosene).
Europe’s plan- ban on import of LNG till 2027
This change has come at a time when the European Union (EU) has announced that from January they will completely stop the import of refined petroleum products, which are made from Russian crude oil. Even if they are processed in a third country (like India). Due to the war on Russia, America and the European Union are continuously imposing new sanctions. Recently, the US halted international transactions with Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, while the EU also plans to completely ban the import of Russian LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) from 2027.
India is still largely dependent on Russian crude oil for its refining needs. Russia supplies about 34 percent of the total oil needs to India, whereas before the Ukraine war in 2022, this share was only 0.2 percent.
The question is why Spain?
In fact, earlier most of the refined oil from India used to go to Netherlands, which is considered to be the main distribution center of Europe. But now the rules have become strict there and due to restrictions on fuel made from Russian oil, Indian companies are avoiding risk and sending their goods directly to those countries where it is actually needed, such as Spain.
Spain and the Netherlands together account for almost the entire share of India’s European fuel exports. The thing that Spain imported the most from India in September 2025 was petroleum products. After that there were iron-steel and motor vehicles. Until September last year or August this year, petroleum products were not even in the top 50 imports of Spain, but now they have reached the first place.
This change clearly shows that India’s European fuel trade policy is now moving away from the distribution centers of Northern Europe and directly towards the markets of Southern Europe. Although India’s total exports of petroleum products to the European Union declined by 3.6 percent in September this year, India’s petroleum exports to the entire world increased by 14.8 percent.
