India has emerged as Kenya’s biggest source of petroleum products, overtaking Gulf giants like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as the US-Iran war in the Middle East disrupted global fuel-trading routes. While India is a petroleum-importing nation, it has expanded its refining capacity massively in the last few decades.
Citing information from Belgian commodity-data company Kpler, Dallas-based energy economist Anas Alhajji, said, “India has replaced the UAE and Saudi Arabia as the supplier of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and fuel oil to Kenya.”
Not just Kenya, India’s petroleum-product exports to Africa reached a record high in July, rising 66% year-on-year, according to Alhajji. Africa has emerged as the main market for Indian fuels after the EU banned imports of petroleum products refined from Russian crude in third countries, redirecting Indian cargoes away from Europe, he said on X.
Kenya has traditionally sourced petrol, diesel and jet fuel through government-backed agreements with Saudi Aramco, Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC and the Emirates National Oil Company. However, disruption in the Middle East due to the US-Iran war forced the east African nation to seek fuel supplies from India.
INDIA AMONG TOP PETROLEUM REFINERS IN THE WORLD
India is the world’s fourth-largest oil refiner and Asia’s second largest, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Its 22 operational refineries have an installed capacity of 258.1 million tonnes annually.
India exported 61.5 million tonnes of petroleum products in 2025-26 despite importing over 90% of its crude oil. The world’s largest oil-refining complex is also in India. It is the Reliance Industries complex at Jamnagar, Gujarat.
The same refining strength of India has produced another unlikely reversal. Russia, one of the world’s largest crude exporters, began importing Indian petrol after Ukrainian attacks disrupted its refineries.
Meanwhile, the UAE’s petroleum-product shipments to Kenya plunged from around 90,000 barrels per day in January to approximately 15,000 barrels per day in August, reported Kenyan news outlet, Kenyans.
Evidence of the shift had appeared months earlier. Official documents reviewed by news outlet Business Daily Africa revealed that 82.38 million litres of kerosene loaded at Sikka port in India were discharged in Mombasa on March 19.
Another 156.75 million litres (comprising 81.15 million litres of kerosene and 75.6 million litres of diesel) were scheduled to be shipped from Sikka in April.
INDIA’S EXPORTS TO KENYA SAW A 151% JUMP
The rise of Indian export of petroleum products to Kenya coincides with a sharp expansion in trade with the eastern African region. India’s exports to Kenya increased 151.41% by value in July 2026 compared with July 2025, placing the African nation among India’s five fastest-growing export destinations that month, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
That percentage covers all categories of product, not that of petroleum alone. However, petroleum products were a major driver of India’s overall export growth in July, rising 67.64% globally, from $4.13 billion a year earlier to $6.92 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Dallas-based expert, Alhajji, separately said India’s petroleum-product exports to Africa reached a record in July and increased 66% year-on-year. He argued that Africa had become the principal destination for Indian fuel after the European Union restricted imports of petroleum products manufactured from Russian crude.
India was Kenya’s third-largest trading partner in 2025-26, according to the Indian High Commission in Nairobi. Bilateral trade reached $4.31 billion, including $4.01 billion in Indian exports and $290 million in imports from Kenya. Petroleum products head the mission’s list of principal Indian exports to the African country.
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