Indian refiners are not directly exporting any refined petroleum products to fuel-starved Russia, although some supplies from traders are likely reaching Russia, India’s Oil Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, has said.
Reports emerged earlier this week that Russia had started importing fuel from India by sea in a bid to ease the fuel shortages triggered by Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries.
In an exclusive Reuters report, industry sources revealed that an initial shipment of at least 60,000 metric tons (510,000 barrels) of gasoline has been dispatched from India via two tankers destined for Russian ports.
Hours after the report surfaced, India’s oil minister insisted that Indian refiners aren’t directly selling fuel to Russia.
“Indian companies are not selling fuels to Russia,” Puri said at a media briefing, but acknowledged that it is “possible that Indian-origin refined fuel is sold to Russia via traders.”
Gasoline from Indian refiner Nayara Energy, in which Russia’s top oil firm Rosneft holds a 49% stake, has been sold to Russia via traders, sources with direct knowledge of the deals told Reuters on Thursday.
So it is likely that India-produced fuels are now reaching Russia via traders, as Moscow scrambles to alleviate a major fuel supply crisis.
Ukraine’s intensified drone strikes in recent months have now knocked offline an estimated 30% of Russia’s oil refining capacity. During peak summer demand, Russian refining throughput has sunk to a two-decade low.
In a rare public admission at the end of June, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that Russia faces fuel shortages and a fuel crisis that needs further government intervention to solve.
The fuel shortages that emerged in some regions in May have now reached the capital city Moscow, too, after Ukrainian strikes last month hit and sent Moscow’s Kapotnya refinery offline. The refinery is unlikely to resume fuel production before 2027 after suffering extensive structural damage from multiple strikes by Ukraine’s long-range drones, industry sources told Reuters last month.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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