Saudi Aramco and Iraq’s SOMO Oil have stopped selling crude oil to India’s Nayara Energy after European Union imposed sanctions on the Russia-backed refiner, Reuters reported on Monday, citing three people familiar with the matter said.
The halting of supply from the two Gulf exporters means Nayara, majority-owned by Russian entities including Rosneft, relied entirely on Russia for its crude oil imports in August, according to sources and LSEG shipping data.
Nayara typically receives around 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude and 1 million barrels of Saudi crude each month, but did not receive shipments from either of the two suppliers during August, according to data from Kpler and LSEG.
SOMO and Nayara did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Saudi Aramco declined to comment.
According to two of the three people cited above, the sanctions had created payment problems for Nayara Energy’s purchases from SOMO.
The most recent cargo of Basra crude from SOMO was discharged for Nayara Energy by the Kalliopi, a very large crude carrier, at Vadinar port on 29 July, according to Kpler and LSEG as well as data obtained from industry sources.
The private refiner received 1 million barrels of Arab Light carried by VLCC Georgios coloaded with a similar quantity of Basrah heavy on July 18, its last Saudi delivery, according to LSEG data.
Nayara Energy is receiving direct supplies from Rosneft, an official from the Russian Embassy in New Delhi said last month.
The private firm is operating its 400,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Vadinar, Gujarat, at about 70-80% capacity due to a lack of buyers, sources have said.
Nayara Energy, which controls about 8% of India’s 5.2 million barrel-per-day refining capacity, has been struggling to transport fuel since the EU sanctions, relying on so-called dark fleet vessels after other shippers backed out, according to shipping reports and LSEG data.
The company’s CEO resigned in July. Last week, Nayara Energy announced the appointment of a senior executive from Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR as its chief executive.