India Turns Away from Russia: The US Has Taken Its Place in the Gas Market

India has begun actively increasing imports of liquefied natural gas from the United States, while Russia's position in this market has weakened. American suppliers have become India's largest LNG source in June 2026 year.

This is written by Interfax-Ukraine.

In June 2026 year India imported 2,659 million tons of liquefied natural gas, which is 28% more than in the same month 2025 year. This became the largest monthly volume of deliveries since October 2024 year.

In the first half of the year, the country increased LNG imports by 7% compared to last year—to 12,844 million tons.

The rise in gas purchases occurred amid higher demand in the largest Asian economies. In June, LNG imports rose in China, Japan, South Korea, and India.

At the same time, gas supplies effectively rerouted from the European market, where LNG imports decreased by 18% over the same period.

India traditionally received significant gas volumes from the Middle East; however, due to hostilities, part of the supplies from this direction declined.

An additional factor was hotter-than-last-year weather, which raised energy demand. In June, deliveries partially recovered: six LNG cargoes arrived from the United Arab Emirates and two from Qatar. They accounted for about 20% of the monthly import.

The largest LNG supplier to India in June remained the United States. American gas amounted to 562 thousand tons, or 21% of all deliveries for the month.

In addition to the United States, India received significant volumes of gas from Nigeria, Oman, and Angola.

For the year 2025, India ranked fifth in the world by LNG import volumes after China, Japan, South Korea, and France.

Earlier it was reported that India declined Russia's offer to purchase LNG that falls under U.S. sanctions, despite a gas shortage due to the tense situation in the Middle East.