Russia is cashing in on the war in Iran, as demand for its oil and gas soars and prices for its flagship Urals crude shipped to India jump above Brent for the first time on record. With the Strait of Hormuz largely shut and about a fifth of global oil and LNG supplies disrupted, Indian refiners are scrambling for alternative barrels and turning heavily to Moscow.
Kremlin officials say Russia is seeing a “significant increase” in orders and insist the country remains a reliable supplier of both oil and gas, despite Western sanctions linked to the Ukraine war. Before U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, Urals crude sold at a steep discount of 10–13 dollars per barrel, but it is now fetching a premium of 4–5 dollars over Brent on deliveries to India in March and early April.
Washington has quietly helped keep Russian barrels flowing by granting India a 30‑day waiver so it can buy cargoes of Russian oil stuck at sea, even after months of U.S. pressure on New Delhi to cut purchases from Moscow. Analysts note that while global oil prices have jumped, Russia is emerging as a short‑term financial winner from the Iran conflict, with Urals prices rising around 50% in a week—far outpacing Brent.
At the same time, Moscow is exploring ways to redirect LNG away from Europe and towards Asian buyers such as India, Thailand, China and the Philippines, just as the EU moves ahead with plans to phase out Russian gas and LNG imports by 2027. Energy strategists warn that the crisis is exposing cracks in Europe’s assumption that it could permanently replace Russian volumes with U.S. and Qatari LNG plus faster renewables, while giving Russia a lucrative—if potentially temporary—export lifeline.
