Russian oil loadings for India plunge as sanctions hit today

Reliance stops use of Russian crude at refinery for exports

- ARUNIMA BHARADWAJ

INDIA'S CRUDE IMPORTS from Russia have remained strong this month but fresh loadings of oil cargo — that will land in the country in the coming weeks — have plunged ahead of the November 21 deadline for the US sanctions to take effect.

On Thursday, Reliance Industries said it had halted the use of Russian crude at its export-only refinery in Jamnagar, Gujarat, to comply with sanctions. Reliance has been India's largest buyer of Russian oil, taking in nearly half of all imports.

Russian oil imports by India in the current month stood at 1.89 million barrels per day, even higher than in October (1.61 million barrels), according to data and analytics firm Kpler, as refiners prioritised the most economical barrels ahead of the sanctions deadline.

However, fresh loadings headed for India from Russia declined sharply by 47% to 982,000 barrels per day this month from 1.86 million barrels in October. This indicates the flows are set to decline noticeably in the near term, particularly through December-January. Any cargo after November 21 from Rosneft or Lukoil would carry significantly higher sanctions risk, analysts at Kpler noted.

"Based on current understanding, no Indian refiner other than Nayara's alreadysanctioned Vadinar facility is likely to take the risk of dealing with OFAC-designated entities, and buyers will need time to reconfigure contracts, routing, ownership structures, and payment channels," said Sumit Ritolia, lead research analyst, refining & modeling at Kpler.

With crude linked to Rosneft and Lukoil now effectively treated as a "sanctioned molecule", Indian refiners (aside from Nayara) are expected to pause direct purchases after November 21.