A tanker carrying a cargo of Russian crude from recently-sanctioned Rosneft PJSC has been holding off Mumbai for a week amid intense scrutiny of Indian refiners’ purchases following the US curbs.
The Ailana reached the waters off the Indian commercial hub on Oct. 24, and has been nearly stationary since then, with the cargo still aboard, according to ship-tracking data, as well as an industry executive and shipbrokers, who did not wished to be named discussing sensitive matters. The Aframax-sized tanker hasn’t yet been scheduled to dock, port agents’ reports show.
The oil market has zeroed in on Russia’s export patterns, as well as Indian purchasing, after the US sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil PJSC on Oct. 22. The move by Washington is meant to raise pressure against Moscow over the war in Ukraine, as well as its customers, although President Donald Trump opted not to broach the topic with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in a summit this week.
At present, Indian refiners accounting for more than half of the nation’s imports of Russian crude have paused buying, reinforcing expectations that purchases for December and January delivery will plunge. The Ailana’s cargo was taken from Rosneft, according to the executive and data provider Kpler.
Ailana picked up its load of about 720,000 barrels of Urals crude from Russia’s Baltic port of Ust-Luga in late September, according to the executive, other industry sources and tracking platform Kpler.
The latest US curbs mandate that transactions with the sanctioned entities need to wind down by Nov. 21. That means the vessel’s late-October arrival allowed it had a window to berth and discharge its cargo.
There were no contact details listed for the Ailana’s manager, Azerbaijan-based Nautilus Fleet Management LLC, according to Equasis, a maritime database. Calls to its owner, Alvido Chartering Ltd., which is also based in the central Asian country, did not go through.
