India has emerged as Kenya’s greatest supply of petroleum merchandise, overtaking Gulf giants like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, because the US-Iran struggle within the Center East disrupted world fuel-trading routes. Whereas India is a petroleum-importing nation, it has expanded its refining capability massively in the previous few a long time.
Citing info from Belgian commodity-data firm Kpler, Dallas-based power economist Anas Alhajji, stated, “India has changed the UAE and Saudi Arabia because the provider of gasoline, diesel, jet gas, and gas oil to Kenya.”
Not simply Kenya, India’s petroleum-product exports to Africa reached a document excessive in July, rising 66% year-on-year, in response to Alhajji. Africa has emerged as the principle marketplace for Indian fuels after the EU banned imports of petroleum merchandise refined from Russian crude in third international locations, redirecting Indian cargoes away from Europe, he stated on X.
Kenya has historically sourced petrol, diesel and jet gas via government-backed agreements with Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC and the Emirates Nationwide Oil Firm. Nevertheless, disruption within the Center East as a result of US-Iran struggle compelled the east African nation to hunt gas provides from India.
INDIA AMONG TOP PETROLEUM REFINERS IN THE WORLD
India is the world’s fourth-largest oil refiner and Asia’s second largest, in response to the Ministry of Petroleum and Pure Gasoline. Its 22 operational refineries have an put in capability of 258.1 million tonnes yearly.
India exported 61.5 million tonnes of petroleum merchandise in 2025-26 regardless of importing over 90% of its crude oil. The world’s largest oil-refining complex is also in India. It’s the Reliance Industries complicated at Jamnagar, Gujarat.
The identical refining energy of India has produced one other unlikely reversal. Russia, one of many world’s largest crude exporters, began importing Indian petrol after Ukrainian assaults disrupted its refineries.
In the meantime, the UAE’s petroleum-product shipments to Kenya plunged from round 90,000 barrels per day in January to roughly 15,000 barrels per day in August, reported Kenyan information outlet, Kenyans.
Proof of the shift had appeared months earlier. Official paperwork reviewed by information outlet Enterprise Day by day Africa revealed that 82.38 million litres of kerosene loaded at Sikka port in India had been discharged in Mombasa on March 19.
One other 156.75 million litres (comprising 81.15 million litres of kerosene and 75.6 million litres of diesel) had been scheduled to be shipped from Sikka in April.
INDIA’S EXPORTS TO KENYA SAW A 151% JUMP
The rise of Indian export of petroleum merchandise to Kenya coincides with a pointy growth in commerce with the japanese African area. India’s exports to Kenya elevated 151.41% by worth in July 2026 in contrast with July 2025, inserting the African nation amongst India’s 5 fastest-growing export locations that month, in response to the Ministry of Commerce and Trade.
That share covers all classes of product, not that of petroleum alone. Nevertheless, petroleum merchandise had been a serious driver of India’s general export progress in July, rising 67.64% globally, from $4.13 billion a yr earlier to $6.92 billion, in response to the Ministry of Commerce and Trade.
Dallas-based knowledgeable, Alhajji, individually stated India’s petroleum-product exports to Africa reached a document in July and elevated 66% year-on-year. He argued that Africa had turn into the principal vacation spot for Indian gas after the European Union restricted imports of petroleum merchandise manufactured from Russian crude.
India was Kenya’s third-largest buying and selling associate in 2025-26, in response to the Indian Excessive Fee in Nairobi. Bilateral commerce reached $4.31 billion, together with $4.01 billion in Indian exports and $290 million in imports from Kenya. Petroleum merchandise head the mission’s checklist of principal Indian exports to the African nation.
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