The development comes amid concerns over oil payments to Moscow that spurred a slump in arrivals last month.
Reports suggest that a number of vessels hauling crude from Russia that had been idling off India are now headed to eastwards away from the country.
The development comes amid concerns over oil payments to Moscow that spurred a slump in arrivals last month.
Citing vessel-tracking data, the reports said five ships, all carrying Sokol oil from Russia’s Far East – the NS Commander, Sakhalin Island, Krymsk, Nellis, and Liteyny Prospect – are moving towards the Malacca Strait at 7 to 10 knots.
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A sixth, also holding Sokol, the NS Century, is still close to Sri Lanka, they added.
The NS Century hauls about 700,000 barrels, and was sanctioned by the US Treasury last year. Four of the other vessels carry similar volumes, while the fifth, the Nellis, can hold twice as much.
According to the recent data released by energy cargo tracker Vortexa, in December, India’s crude oil imports from Russia increased around 3 per cent compared to last month at 1.52 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude oil.
Last month, the import was 1.48 million bpd. Notably, Russia retained the position of top supplier of crude oil to India in the last month of the year.
However, when compared with January 2023, India’s oil imports from Russia fell in December to their lowest. The fall was due to local refiners not receiving a single Sokol cargo due to payment issues, according to Kpler.
“China seems to have stepped in to save the idling Sokol cargoes,” said Viktor Katona, lead crude analyst at data intelligence provider Kpler.
The US and its allies have imposed sanctions on entities deemed to have breached the USD 60-a-barrel cap on Russian crude exports, which came into effect late in 2022.It is worth highlighting that for India, Russia has become a major source of crude oil since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022. It has overtaken Saudi Arabia and Iraq to become the biggest supplier of the commodity.
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