EU: Indian Products Exports Possible Route for Sanctioned Russian Oil

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday May 16, 2023

Comments made by the European Union's top diplomat to the Financial Times suggest a hardening of attitudes towards refined oil products that may have Russian origin oil coming into the bloc. And it is products refined in India and exported to the EU that are being put under the spotlight.

"If the EU followed through on Joseph Borrell's comments, it would represent a fundamental shift from the sanctions and oil price programme first agreed by the G7 group of nations and the EU last year," said maritime news provider Tradewinds.

According to Reuters, Indian refiners, which rarely bought Russian oil previously due to high transport costs, imported 970,000-981,000 barrels per day of it in fiscal 2022/23 (April-March), accounting for more than a fifth of the country's overall fuel imports.

Kpler ship-tracking data showed Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy to be key exporters of refined fuels and buyers of Russian oil.  No immediate response was available from the companies, the report said.

Any mechanism to stem the flow of Russian oil would need to be implemented by the national authorities, Borrell told the FT, suggesting that the EU could target buyers of Indian refined fuels which it believes are derived from Russian crude.

"If they sell, it is because someone is buying. And we have to look at who is buying," Borrell was quoted as saying.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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