Concerns grow that India being used as potential ‘back door’ into Europe for Russian oil

London, June 26 (IANS) Considerations are rising that India is getting used as a possible again door into Europe for Russian oil provides, given the surge in imports, media stories mentioned.

The massive blue and crimson hull of the SCF Primorye got here into port at Vadinar in western Gujarat earlier this month. The 84,000-tonne oil tanker, inbuilt 2009 and crusing underneath the Liberian flag, had arrived from the port at Ust-Luga, a settlement in Russia close to the border with Estonia, The Guardian reported.

Till 2017, the Vadinar oil refinery was managed by Essar – the Indian proprietor of the Stanlow refinery in Ellesmere Port. Since then a consortium together with the sanctioned Russian state-owned oil agency Rosneft and the commodities dealer Trafigura, which holds a 24.5 per cent stake, have owned Nayara Power, which runs the refinery, it mentioned.

The tanker’s arrival got here as India ramped up imports of Russian oil. The nation’s willingness to snap up Russian crude at reductions of as much as 30 per cent has undermined efforts from the US, Europe, and the UK to deplete Russian President Vladimir Putin’s struggle coffers by curbing imports. Russia raked in $20bn from oil exports in Could, bouncing again to pre-invasion ranges. Now, issues are rising that India is getting used as a possible again door into Europe for Russian oil provides,given the surge in imports, The Guardian mentioned.

Earlier than the invasion of Ukraine, India’s imports of Russian oil had been negligible on account of excessive freight prices. However not too long ago, imports of Russian oil to India have elevated.

The volumes that India has been shopping for and exporting, nevertheless, recommend that a few of the refined Russian crude might in the end be utilized in Europe’s filling stations. It isn’t clear the place the Russian crude introduced into Vadinar on the SCF Primorye will likely be used. Vadinar’s proprietor declined to touch upon the cargo or whether or not it was transport Russian oil to Europe, The Guardian reported.

In Could, India imported about 800,000 barrels of oil per day from Russia in Mayand the ranking company Fitch predicts that imports might quickly enhance additional to 1m barrels per day, or 20 per cent of India’s complete imports. India, China and the United Arab Emirates have picked up the slack as Russian imports into the EU fell by 18 per cent in Could.

Putin informed the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) enterprise summit this week that “Russian oil provides to China and India are rising noticeably”.

India’s 1.4 billion-strong inhabitants offers it cause to hunt low-cost provides. But it surely’s a harmful political sport. “India is strolling a tightrope,” mentioned Alan Gelder, the Vice President of Refining, Chemical substances, and Oil Markets at Wooden Mackenzie. “In case you take an excessive amount of, you don’t want the west to sanction the remainder of your economic system,” The Guardian reported.

The Centre for Analysis on Power and Clear Air mentioned Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat acquired 27 per cent of its oil from Russia in Could, up from 5 per cent in April. It mentioned about 20 per cent of exported cargoes from Jamnagar left for the Suez Canal, indicating that they had been heading to Europe or the US. Shipments had been made to France, Italy, and the UK. Nevertheless, there isn’t a proof that these shipments included Russian oil, The Guardian reported.

–IANS