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An oil refinery, operated by Bharat Petroleum Corp., in Mumbai, India.

Dhiraj Singh | Bloomberg | Getty Images

India’s ability to import more Russian oil may have hit a limit for the rest of the year, analysts tell CNBC, citing infrastructural and political constraints, as well as limitations to Russian oil flows.

“India will look to continue Russian crude imports, but perhaps it has reached its limit, hampering any additional barrels,” according to Janiv Shah, senior analyst at Rystad Energy.

Since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, India’s refiners have been snapping up discounted Russian oil.

Moscow has since leapfrogged to become India’s leading source of crude oil, accounting for about 40% of India’s crude imports. June marked the 10th consecutive month-on-month increase in India’s imports of Russian crude, data from commodity intelligence firm Kpler showed.

“An unprecedented feat in recent history, especially given the volumes in question — 2.2 million barrels per day in June,” Kpler’s lead crude analyst, Viktor Katona said.

And that’s the highest volume that India’s imports of Russian oil can go — at least for the rest of the year, according to his predictions.

Any additional supply coming out of Russia … that flows into Asia, I suspect it’s done. It’s maximum amount now.

Daniel Hynes

senior commodity strategist, ANZ

“I would say 2.2 million b/d will be the peak this year … We believe India’s imports of Russian crude will see a slight downward correction to two million barrels per day. That will be the sustainable level of buying,” he said.

However, the volume of crude oil consumed and processed by India’s refineries has now hit a “seasonal peak” and would only trend downwards from here, Rystad Energy’s Shah told CNBC in an email. 

His sentiments were echoed by Katona, which highlighted that in addition to refineries being currently shut, demand for oil is set to trickle down too.

“For the first time this year, some of Indian refiners will be undergoing maintenance which was just not the case in January to May 2023 when there were no turnarounds at all. Everyone was firing on all cylinders,” said Katona.

India’s monsoon season started in early June, and the summer period is often associated with lower demand for oil products as a result of lower mobility and construction, Katona added.

Fuel demand in India, the world’s third largest oil consumer, usually enters a lull during the four-month monsoon season. India’s total oil demand in June slipped 3.7% month-on-month to 19.31 million tonnes, according to data from India’s Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell.

‘Finite limit’ to Russian oil flows?

Technically, the Indians could be buying more, but they don’t want to antagonize the Middle East too much.

Viktor Katona

lead crude analyst, Kpler

Russia also pledged to trim its crude oil exports earlier in July.

“India has talked about the inability to really pick up significantly additional cargoes from Russia,” Hynes added.

However, that’s not to say that India’s refiners will not attempt to try for another all-time high import of Russian oil next year, said Kpler’s Katona.

“Most probably in the March-to-May period again,” he said, pointing out that demand at that time will be “unrestricted from the Indian side and Russian export availability will be once again boosted by refinery turnarounds.”

Politics matter: India and the Middle East

However, India needs to maintain its relationship with other exporters too, especially key suppliers in the Middle East.

According to Rystad data, 55% of India’s recent seaborne medium sour imports were from Russia, while imports from the Middle East sank to a “historic low of 40%.”

“India may be approaching a limit in its reliance on Russian crude, as it would still need to secure long-term supply agreements with Middle Eastern suppliers,” Shah said.

Crude import from the Middle East region dropped 21.7% to 8.68 kilo tonnes in June compared to the start of the year, data from Refinitiv showed.

Medium sour crude supplies to India tend to come under annual term contracts, which have minimum purchase agreements.

“Technically, the Indians could be buying more, but they don’t want to antagonize the Middle East too much,” said Kpler’s Katona. “Politics matter, too,” he said. 

However, Indian buyers are particularly price-sensitive, and could still forsake other countries’ crude for Russia’s at the right price.

“Indian refiners can always take more Russian [crude] at the expense of other grades, e.g the Middle Eastern ones, if the price disparity widens,” said director of Refinitiv Oil Research in Asia, Yaw Yan Chong.

Russian exports to India have soared more than 10 times since February last year, shooting from a pre-invasion average of just 350,000 metric tonne per month to a post-invasion average of 4.57 million metric tonne per month from March 2023 onwards, he said.

Yaw expects India will still pursue Russian imports at elevated levels “for as long as Russian [crude] are under [sanction] and shunned by their traditional European buyers.”

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Royal Enfield unveils Flying Flea S6 scrambler-style electric motorcycle built for urban adventure

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Royal Enfield unveils Flying Flea S6 scrambler-style electric motorcycle built for urban adventure

Royal Enfield’s new electric motorcycle brand, Flying Flea, just pulled the wraps off its second model – the scrambler-inspired FF.S6 – at EICMA 2025, and it’s an agile, tech-packed machine that brings serious trail-ready vibes to city streets.

Inspired by the iconic 1940s Flying Flea motorcycle (which was literally parachuted into battle, hence the logo), the FF.S6 is a modern reimagining with off-road chops and futuristic tech. Royan Enfield assures us that this is a far cry from an average urban electric motorcycle. Instead, it’s a lightweight, connected, and capable machine that blends classic scrambler style with serious smart features.

Built on a lightweight frame with staggered 19-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels, a USD front fork, and chain final drive, the FF.S6 is ready for both tight urban corners and loose gravel backroads. A high-torque electric motor paired with a magnesium finned battery case keeps weight low while enhancing cooling, and the long enduro-style seat offers comfort for longer rides.

Tech-wise, the FF.S6 goes way beyond what you’d expect from a typical commuter. A circular high-res touchscreen display nods to the original Flying Flea while delivering fully connected features, including lean-angle sensing ABS, traction control, off-road mode, and built-in navigation. Voice Assist lets riders launch music or maps hands-free through their phone, and OTA updates ensure the bike gets smarter over time.

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The system is powered by a Snapdragon QWM2290 processor, the same class of chip you’d find in advanced smartphones. Riders can use a smartwatch or phone app to manage everything from keyless start to charging status and diagnostics.

Production of the FF.S6 is expected to begin by the end of 2026.

Electrek’s Take

Sure, this is largely just an experiment in applying some mods to the same motorcycle prototype that Royal Enfield showed us last year, but it’s a cool-looking example of it! And while we’re still waiting to see what these bikes will cost (not to mention a few more hard and fast tech specs), I’m glad to see that Royal Enfield’s Flying Flea team is jumping in with bold design and bleeding-edge software. The FF.S6 looks like a scrambler but thinks like a smartphone and rides like an urban bike – likely. And for a new wave of connected urban riders, that might be the perfect combination.

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Orsted swings to quarterly net loss as Trump’s offshore wind battle takes its toll

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Orsted swings to quarterly net loss as Trump's offshore wind battle takes its toll

A turbine blade is lifted onto a rack near tower sections at the Revolution Wind project assembly site at State Pier in New London, Connecticut, US, on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Danish renewables giant Orsted on Wednesday reported a quarterly net loss as the beleaguered company continues to battle U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-wind policies.

The world’s biggest offshore wind farm group posted a net loss of 1.7 billion Danish kroner ($261.8 million) for the July-September period. The result, which was slightly better than analysts feared, was significantly down from profit of 5.17 billion Danish kroner in the same period last year.

Orsted flagged third-quarter impairment costs of nearly 1.8 billion Danish kroner.

The company, however, reiterated its full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) guidance of 24-27 billion Danish kroner, excluding earnings from new partnerships and cancellation fees.

It comes shortly after the company announced it had reached a deal to sell a 50% stake in its Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm in the U.K. to Apollo Global Management in a deal worth $6 billion.

“I’m satisfied with the good progress across our entire construction portfolio and our solid operational performance,” Orsted CEO Rasmus Errboe said in a statement.

“Our key focus is to continue delivering on our business plan, which will enable Ørsted to remain a global leader of offshore wind with a strong foothold in Europe,” he added.

Shares of Orsted were 1.2% higher on Wednesday morning. The stock price has fallen sharply this year amid concerted efforts from the White House to halt several ongoing developments and suspend new licensing.

Vestas shares pop

Danish wind turbine firm Vestas, meanwhile, reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

The firm on Wednesday said that operating profit came in at 416 million euros ($477.8 million) for the July-September period, above expectations of 305 million euros estimated by analysts in a company-compiled consensus.

Shares of Vestas jumped more than 14% on the news, soaring to the top of the pan-European Stoxx 600 index, as investors welcomed signs of a successful turnaround following years of losses.

Asked about some of the headwinds facing the wind industry, notably from the Trump administration, Vestas CEO Henrik Andersen said the company has a “well-established” supply chain in the U.S.

“For us, we see the U.S., both customers and the buildout in the U.S., as some of our core responsibility to help the U.S. with,” Andersen told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday.

“Then sometimes maybe we have to get a bit of a slap that it is not everyone that likes the nature of a wind turbine. But I think, in general, … energy drives decision making and [the] cost of energy drives decision making,” he added.

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NIU’s scooter-sized electric microcar is actually headed for production

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NIU's scooter-sized electric microcar is actually headed for production

Earlier this year, we covered the unveiling of the NIUMM, an electric microcar designed for urban residents (and especially those with a NIU scooter already, since it shares the same batteries). Now the company is actually bringing it to market.

The electric microcar was on display at EICMA 2025, the Milan Motorcycle Show, where NIU showed off how it shares the same drivetrain as its NQi-series scooters.

The small format L6e quadricycle uses a pair of NQi batteries – the same ones from NIU’s scooters – to power the little not-a-car up to around 70 km (43 miles) at speeds of up to 45 km/h (28 mph). That’s the maximum allowable speed for the L6e class.

For anyone who already owns the scooter, those two batteries may be sufficient. But the range can be nearly doubled by carrying a second pair of batteries in the convenient extra battery slots built into the vehicle.

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When the NIUMM was originally launched, it wasn’t yet clear if it was actually headed for production, or at least when that may be. But NIU’s Director of International, Sieghart Michielsen, explained that the vehicle is finishing homologation testing now, marking the last major obstacle to its commercial launch.

L6e quadricycles have carved out a unique and growing niche in European cities, where their compact size, low speed, and lightweight classification make them ideal for navigating dense urban environments. These light four-wheeled vehicles are limited to a top speed of 45 km/h (28 mph) and a maximum weight of 425 kg (excluding batteries), allowing them to be driven with a moped license in many countries.

That accessibility, combined with their affordability and electric drivetrains, has made L6e quadricycles especially popular among teenagers, city dwellers, and older adults looking for an easy-to-use alternative to cars.

One of the most iconic examples is the Citroen Ami, a no-frills, ultra-compact electric vehicle that has gained cult status in urban areas thanks to its minimalist design, €7,000 price tag, and availability through subscription or car-sharing services. My wife and I spent a week living with a Citroen Ami while on vacation in Greece, and it proved to be a fascinating way to navigate around.

Other standout L6e models like the Renault Twizy, the Microlino, and the Eli Zero, have helped demonstrate real demand for niche, small vehicles. These vehicles offer just enough comfort and protection from the elements for short city trips, while avoiding the cost, complexity, and parking headaches of full-size cars –making them an increasingly attractive option in Europe’s car-light future.

NIU could leverage the growing momentum for these types of vehicles if it can stick the landing with the NIUMM. While we still don’t have solid pricing or availability timelines yet, it looks like we’re looking at sooner rather than later.

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