New Delhi: Are Turkish companies that supply drones and other military hardware to Pakistan using diesel exported by India?
It has now come to light that Turkey, a key strategic partner of Pakistan, imported a record volume of diesel from India in August 2026, marking its highest level of purchase from New Delhi in years.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned to India after a fall in Russian supplies and continuing disruptions in the traditional Middle East routes.
In August, Turkish imports of Indian diesel surged to a record level, even as Russian supplies slumped sharply, as reported by India Today.
After backing Islamabad against India during Operation Sindoor, Turkey has now formed a Nato-like strategic defence partnership with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan titled Mecca Defence Alliance.
Ankara had also disallowed the US from using facilities in Turkey during the transposition of Apache helicopters to India.
Yet, Turkey imported more than 1,20,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Indian diesel in August, according to commodities data firm Kpler, while imports from the US touched about 90,000 bpd. Both were the highest monthly levels recorded in Kpler’s data going back to 2017, Reuters reported.
Turkish imports of Russian diesel fell to around 80,000 bpd in August, from more than 2,00,000 bpd in earlier months this year.
“Surprise”, Dallas-based energy economist Anas Alhajji posted on X, highlighting the scale of India’s rise. “India’s petroleum product exports to Turkey hit a record high in August — nearly a 5x jump year-on-year. Reliance shipped most of it.”
This happened after Russia restricted diesel exports after Ukrainian attacks disrupted its refineries and domestic fuel supplies, while war-related damage to Middle Eastern refineries and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have further tightened the market.
Russia has historically dominated Turkey’s diesel supply. In 2025, Russia accounted for about 85% of Turkey’s diesel imports, supplying roughly 281,000 bpd, according to Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority data (EMRA).
Turkey’s Russian diesel imports fell to around 100,000 bpd in July and about 80,000 bpd in August, pushing Russia’s share of Turkey’s diesel imports down to roughly 20% in August.
UK-based data analytics and market insights firm, Energy Aspects, estimates a lower figure of about 74,000 bpd, but even that would represent India’s strongest shipment level to Turkey since 2022.
India exported 562,421 tonnes of diesel to Turkey in 2025, making it Turkey’s third-largest supplier after Russia and Egypt. In 2023, India’s diesel exports to Turkey stood at 3,97,761 tonnes, compared with 3,30,990 tonnes in 2022.
The 2021 figure was much higher at 2.71 million tonnes, indicating that India’s relationship with the Turkish fuel market has fluctuated sharply rather than moving on a straight upward trajectory.
India imports most of its crude oil but has one of the world’s largest refining capacities. That allows Indian refiners to buy crude from the international market, process it into higher-value products such as diesel and petrol, and export those products to markets where prices and shortages make shipments commercially attractive.
This has become particularly important since the disruption to Russian and Middle Eastern refining and supply chains.
India’s petroleum exports have already staged a sharp recovery. According to Crisil Intelligence, India’s petroleum exports grew 46% year-on-year between April and August 2026, while overall merchandise exports rose 18.8% and non-oil exports grew 14.4%. Crisil said the increase marks a reversal after three consecutive years of decline in petroleum exports.
The reason for this surge is simple. Supply disruptions elsewhere have created new markets for Indian refined products.
Since 2022, Indian refiners have significantly increased their purchases of Russian crude. That crude is processed in Indian refineries and the resulting products enter international markets.
India’s Russian crude purchases have surged again in recent months. Indian imports from Russia stand at 2.73 million bpd in June and an estimated 2.57 million bpd in July, among the strongest monthly levels recorded, Kpler data revealed.
This has created a situation in which India can simultaneously be a major buyer of Russian crude and a major exporter of refined petroleum products.
