India does not accept tanker with sanctioned Russian oil, — Bloomberg

The Cordelia Moon tanker, carrying oil from a company that has been sanctioned by the US, has been off the west coast of India for several days and has not entered a port.

According to Bloomberg, the Cordelia Moon tanker was scheduled to unload at the port of Vadinar on February 9, after loading approximately 1 million barrels of Urals oil at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk between January 10 and 12.

The cargo is owned by Surgutneftegaz, one of two Russian oil companies that were added to the US sanctions list on January 10 of this year.

This is the first recorded case of the arrival of a tanker with oil from Surgutneftegaz that was loaded after the sanctions were imposed by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). At least four more tankers are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, and another ship carrying oil from Gazprom Neft, another sanctioned producer, is already en route.

Reporters say there are signs that oil is being stored on tankers instead of being shipped, potentially disrupting the market. According to Bloomberg, millions of barrels of Russian oil from the country’s eastern regions are currently sitting on tankers at sea.

Asked about the fate of the Cordelia Moon, India’s oil minister, Pankaj Jain, said the country would not accept cargo from sanctioned companies if it was loaded after January 10. He also said he had no information about the particular vessel. It is worth noting that the Cordelia Moon is not among the 161 oil tankers that were officially added to the US sanctions list last month.

It has also been reported that US sanctions are making it difficult for Russia to ship premium oil from Sakhalin.