Fact sheet: Australia’s imports of oil products refined from Russian crude twice their aid to Ukraine – Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air

FINANCING PUTIN’S WAR – AUSTRALIA

Introduction

In the wake of G7+ sanctions, the Russian energy sector has sought to recover its revenues by offering discounts on its oil and to attract new markets. Over the last three years, countries like India and Turkiye, have become the biggest customers for Russian oil. A key loophole in the sanctions has aided this growth by allowing non-sanctioning countries to import Russian crude, refine it, and export the refined products to G7+ countries. Consequently, G7+ countries have increased their imports of oil products from these countries, thus propping up the price of Russian oil, as well as increasing the volumes Russia sells globally.

Recent developments

In July 2025, as part of the EU’s 18th sanctions package, the bloc banned the ‘imports of oil products obtained from crude oil originating in Russia’. In addition the EU also imposed sanctions on the part-Rosneft-owned Vadinar refinery in India.

While the EU has finally addressed the loophole, other countries still continue to enable Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by purchasing products refined from Russian crude. The biggest single such buyer is Australia¹.

**Australia’s imports of oil products from refineries using Russian crude**

Key findings

Since the G7+ embargo and price cap on Russian oil products (5 February 2023) till the end of June 2025, Australia has imported USD 6.4 bn of oil products from three refineries in India using Russian crude. USD 2.5 bn (3.2 mn tonnes) of these oil products are estimated as being refined from Russian crude.
According to data from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Australia has sent USD 1.09 bn in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion until April 2025. Their imports of oil products estimated to be refined from Russian crude are over two times that in the same period of time.
In the first six months of 2025 alone, Australia has imported USD 1.6 bn of oil products from these refineries, of which USD 796 mn is estimated to be derived from Russian crude.
An overwhelming majority of the imports (93% totalling USD 6 bn) are from the Jamnagar refinery in India. The refinery’s feedstock of Russian crude has risen consistently, to as high as 55% in the first four months of 2025.
Australia’s imports from Jamnagar have seen a 31% year-on-year increase in the first half of 2025. Their total imports in the first half of 2025 are almost equal to their total imports in 2023.
Australia’s imports include diesel (USD 3.9 bn), gasoline (USD 1.4 bn), gasoil (USD 665 mn) and jet fuel (USD 458 mn).
An estimated USD 2.3 bn of Russian crude has been used to create oil products for Australia. Australia’s imports of oil products from these refineries have sent back an estimated USD 1.3 bn in tax revenue to the Kremlin.

Policy recommendations

CREA proposes two varied options to tackle this loophole.

The first of these is through the introduction of a tariff on imports from refineries using Russian crude. CREA’s analysis shows that 85% of Australia’s imports from these refineries are transported on vessels owned/insured by G7+ countries. A policy that requires refineries in India to pay a premium for this transport and buyers in Australia to also pay a tariff when importing the products would create downward pressure on the trade and disincentivise it. It could also allow the Australian government to direct these proceeds to a fund towards the support of Ukraine.
A second scenario advocates for a full ban on imports from these refineries. This will hurt Russian revenues without having any significant inflationary effect in Australia. For example: Australia’s imports of diesel from these refineries constitutes a mere 12% of their total diesel imports in 2024, so any cut off would not create supply pressure in the market.

Methodology

CREA uses data from Kpler and government sources for refinery data to estimate the value and volume of oil products made from Russian crude for export to G7+ countries from third-countries. We do not include these estimates in our counter and tracker but we use these in many of our reports.

We assume that all feedstock crude oil is perfectly mixed by refineries to produce refined oil products. For each refinery, we multiply the percentage of the feedstock crude oil that is of Russian origin to the total volume of oil products flowing out of the refinery. This allows us to attribute products as being derived from Russian crude. For example: if 30% of a refinery’s feedstock crude is of Russian origin, and the refinery exports 100 tonnes of diesel, we assume that 30 tonnes of the diesel comes from Russian origin crude.

To model the impact on imports from these refineries on Russian revenues, we first derived the value of the Russian crude being used to create products for sanctioning countries. To do this we multiplied the percentage of the refineries’ output directed to export by the total volume of their imports of Russian crude.

Our data on each refinery’s monthly output comes from the respective countries’ government mandated monthly reports. We combined this with Kpler data on oil products exports to G7+ countries. We also use Kpler data to estimate the refineries’ imports of Russian crude oil to which we applied CREA’s pricing model for Russian crude.

The full methodology is available here.

See Australian Member of Parliament, Andrew Wilkie, grill Australian Defence Minister, Richard Marles, here. ↩︎

References

This fact sheet draws from CREA’s work tracking the Russian fossil fuel flows that are financing Putin’s war on Ukraine.

Find more relevant data and reports here.

The full methodology is available here.

The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) is an independent research organisation focused on revealing the trends, causes, and health impacts, as well as the solutions to air pollution. CREA uses scientific data, research, and evidence to support the efforts of governments, companies, and campaigning organisations worldwide in their efforts to move towards clean energy and clean air.

CREA is politically independent. The designations employed and the presentation of the material on maps contained in this report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

Find more information here: energyandcleanair.org.

🇦🇺 FACT SHEET – FINANCING PUTIN’S WAR – AUSTRALIA