Nayara’s September exports from its Vadinar refinery are likely to touch 2.2 million barrels of oil products
Sanctioned Indian refiner Nayara Energy is seeing a recovery in sales and operations with New Delhi’s help, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
In July, the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Vadinar refinery in Gujarat, which is owned by Nayara, a private Indo-Russian company in which Rosneft holds a 49% stake. Since the sanctions, Nayara has collaborated with several banks, including the State Bank of India, to enable local currency transactions, the news outlet said, citing sources.
Another state-owned bank has obtained government approval to partner with Nayara and is expected to handle international transactions on its behalf, according to the report.
The refiner is looking to reestablish its export network, with the help of floating storage and a fleet of ships, including some that have been previously sanctioned, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
State-owned refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp., has increased its purchases of Nayara’s products, the media outlet added, citing an anonymous government official.
The refiner is set to export nearly 2.2 million barrels of products in September — less than half of the volume sold in the same period last year, according to data compiled by Kpler.
Nayara said in July that the EU sanctions were “founded on baseless assertions” and that they were an undue extension of authority that ignores both international law and the sovereignty of India.
“It is to be noted that while many European countries continue to import Russian energy through various sources, they take a high moral ground by chastizing and sanctioning an Indian asset for processing Russian crude largely used by its domestic population of 1.4 billion Indians and businesses,” the company said.
The Vadinar refinery is operating at 75% capacity, primarily running on Russian Urals crude.
Russia has become India’s top oil supplier since 2022, accounting for 40% of the country’s crude imports, while the South Asian nation has emerged as a major exporter of refined fuels to Europe.