FSUOGM: India once more accepting oil from Sovcomflot tankers

India appears to be once more accepting Sovcomflot tankers carrying Russian fuels, after halting shipments earlier this year because of US sanctions on the Russian state-owned shipowner, Reuters reported on April 26.

A Sovcomflot ship, the SCF Baltica, offloaded 90,000 tonnes of fuel oil at a western Indian port on April 26, according to Reuters sources. The buyer was Reliance Industries, the operator of the world’s biggest refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat State. 

India had halted all imports of Russian oil loaded on tankers owned by Sovcomflot in response to expanding US sanctions pressure, Bloomberg reported on March 22, as Washington hones its focus on targeting the physical transport of Russian energy exports in order to curb the country’s revenues. This was after the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control slapped sanctions on Sovcomflot in February, while identifying 14 oil tankers in which the company has an interest.

During a visit to India earlier this month, US officials said that despite the sanctions on the 14 Sovcomflot vessels, Washington did not want to disrupt Russian oil imports by India, in order to maintain global supplies. According to Reuters, this eased concerns of Indian refiners.

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