India refused to buy Russian LNG despite shortage amid crisis in the Strait of Hormuz

New Delhi has rejected Moscow’s offer to purchase liquefied natural gas from the sanctioned Russian Portovaya project.

India has refused to accept a shipment of LNG that was shipped from the Gazprom LNG Portovaya plant in mid-April. The reason was US sanctions, which this cargo falls under, Reuters reports.

As a result, the gas tanker was left at sea without a buyer. According to one of the sources, although the cargo was not formally marked as Russian in the accompanying documents, its origin was traced.

The tanker in question is the Kunpeng with a capacity of 138,200 cubic meters. In April, the vessel was heading to the terminal in Dahej in western India, but later changed course. According to the latest data, it is near the waters of Singapore, and the destination is not disclosed.

According to Reuters sources, this situation demonstrates the caution of India, which is trying to balance the need for additional energy resources and the risk of secondary sanctions due to the purchase of sanctioned fuel. Against the background of supply disruptions due to the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, the country, despite increased demand, decided not to accept the controversial cargo.

According to sources, the Indian side informed the Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin about this decision on April 30 during his visit to Delhi. Then the Russian official held meetings with Indian officials, in particular with the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri.

It is expected that Sorokin will try to visit India again in June to continue negotiations on energy cooperation.

Meanwhile, the EU is preparing new sanctions against the Russian “shadow fleet”.