Sanctions hit Nayara’s access to non-Russian oil

New Delhi: Nayara Energy - part-owned by Russian oil giant Rosneft PJSC and blacklisted by the European Union in July - is facing difficulties in securing non-Russian crude supplies for a second month in a row as western shipping companies refused to ferry oil for it, ship tracking data showed.

Nayara, which has already cut down the run rate of its 4,00,000 barrels a day oil refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, remains heavily reliant on Russian barrels since August.

The company got about 2,42,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Russian oil, possibly in ships arranged by Moscow, in August, and another 3,32,000 bpd in the first half of September, preliminary data by global trade analytics firm Kpler showed.

It did not get any crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel at the refinery, from other key sources, such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia, in both August and September. Iraq and Saudi Arabia had supplied about 1,20,000 bpd of crude to Nayara in July.

“Nayara’s situation remains challenging under the weight of ongoing sanctions, which have reinforced its reliance on Russian barrels. Post-sanctions, the refinery has struggled with compliance, shipping, payment channels, and lower crude imports,” said Sumit Ritolia, Lead Research Analyst (Refining & Modeling) at Kpler.

These issues, however, “are gradually being resolved, and we expect operations to move closer to its economical or rated capacity”, he said. PTI