Saudi Arabia, Iraq Stop Oil Shipments To Nayara Energy After Sanctions
Nayara was hit by EU penalties in July because of the 49% stake held by Russia’s Rosneft PJSC.
Saudi Arabia and Iraq aren’t shipping any crude to Nayara Energy Ltd.’s refinery in western India after it was sanctioned by the European Union.
Saudi Aramco halted crude oil sales to Nayara after the bloc’s measures, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. One of the people cited payment issues due to sanctions as the reason for the stoppage. Likewise, Nayara didn’t receive any shipments from Iraq state oil marketeer SOMO in August, another person familiar with the matter said.
The plant last got a delivery of Arab Light on July 18 and Basrah Heavy on July 29, data from analytics firm Kpler show. That made it completely dependent on processing Russian barrels.
Nayara was hit by EU penalties in July because of the 49% stake held by Russia’s Rosneft PJSC. The latest sanctions are aimed at further crimping the Kremlin’s energy revenue, the bulk of which comes from oil exports to India and China.
Nayara is facing payment and shipping challenges in the aftermath of the EU decision. The firm has cut processing rates and is leaning on a pool of dark-fleet tankers for deliveries.
Its facility in Gujarat state has the capacity to handle 400,000 barrels a day but only imported an average of 242,000 barrels a day last month, its lowest level since November 2022, Kpler data show.
All of those barrels were the Russian grade Urals. Last year, about 29% of its imports were from the Middle East.
India’s second-largest private refiner has reached out to the government for help finding banking channels and ships for oil and product flows.
However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration faces its own challenges as US President Donald Trump ratchets up pressure to curb the South Asian nation’s discounted oil purchases from Moscow. The US campaign includes 50% tariffs on Indian goods.
Nayara’s imports helped increase India’s shipments from Russia by 88,000 barrels a day last month to a total of 1.69 million barrels a day.
A Nayara spokesperson didn’t reply to a message seeking comment. A call to Saudi Aramco outside normal working hours wasn’t answered, and there was no immediate response to a request for comment from SOMO. The moves by Saudi Arabia and Iraq were first reported by Reuters.
