Last month, the European Union sanctioned Nayara Energy, an Indian refinery that has a partnership with the Russian state oil company Rosneft (49.13% stake). It is not surprising that the EU announcement attracted criticism from India. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal labelled the move as “double standards” and said that “India does not subscribe to any unilateral sanction measures. We are a responsible actor and remain fully committed to our legal obligations,” The government of India has decided to confront the EU, US and UK over Russian oil supplies. It has declared that energy security remains top national priority, continue to source oil from Russia and has also not ruled out exploring other sources to sustain uninterrupted energy supplies.

The Nayara Energy complex located on the west coast of India in the state of Gujarat has a capacity of 400,000-barrels-per-day, and the company owns nearly 7,000 fuel outlets spread across India. It is also building an integrated petrochemicals plant close to the refinery. The EU sanctions on Nayara Energy are quire diverse and target “export of refined petroleum products derived from Russian crude, financial and shipping restrictions, and a dynamic price cap on Russian crude”. It is worth mentioning that Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), another major Indian private refiner in India, which could also be the target of EU sanctions, has been closely monitoring the situation. However, India’s major public sector refiners are not directly associated with Russian entities and therefore would escape the EU sanctions. According to Monerycontrol, “ state-run Indian oil refiners are likely to continue purchasing Russian oil by making payments entirely in dirhams owing to the latest sanctions imposed by European Union (EU) as well as threats of an unspecified penalty from the US, both aimed at squeezing Moscow’s revenues,”

Russia has emerged as the leading oil supplier to India since the war in Ukraine began, increasing from just under 100,000 barrels per day before the invasion, or a 2.5% share of total imports, to more than 1.8 million barrels per day in 2023, or 39%. According to the International Energy Agency, 70% of Russian crude was exported to India in 2024. 

Meanwhile an oil tanker carrying Russian Urals crude for delivery at the port of Mundra, has been diverted away from the EU-sanctioned Nayara Energy's Vadinar port. Likewise, two tankers did nor load refined products from Vadinar port. Now at the peak of India-US imbroglio over trade and tariffs, and threat of secondary sanctions on India (100 per cent) for importing oil from Russia, at least four tankers were waiting offshore awaiting permission to dock in Indian ports to discharge cargo. As on 01 August, according to Bloomberg, MV Achilles and MV Elyte with a carrying capacity of capacity of about 700,000 barrels that was loaded oil (Urals crude) from Primorsk and Ust Luga in late June, were scheduled to arrive on 30-31 July at Sikka which serves both  Reliance Industries Ltd. And Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd.

Similarly, another pair of tankers i.e. MV Destan were reported to be off the Indian coast, and MV Horae was scheduled to dock at Vadinar, Unlike Achilles and Elyte which have been sanctioned by the UK and EU, Destan and Horae are not in the sanctioned list promulgated by the EU, UK or US.

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, three Aframax ships - the Tagor (bound for Chennai), Guanyin (to Sikka) and the Suezmax Tassos (port not known) were scheduled to deliver Russian oil at Indian ports in August. The Arab News reported that Tagor was heading to Dalian in China, and Tassos had been diverted to Port Said in Egypt.

Despite President Trump’s warning of additional sanctions, three tankers i.e. Achilles, Elyte and Horae unloaded nearly 2.2 million barrels of crude for Nayara Energy Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd. Similarly, Mikati, delivered over 720,000 barrels of Russian oil for refineries at Kochi and Mangalore.

EU recently sanctioned 105 Russian vessels (designated as “shadow fleet) and the total now stands 444 vessels. These are debarred from entering in the ports either for delivering cargo or obtaining maritime-allied services. Similarly, UK has sanctioned 135 Russian oil tankers. Also, it merits mention that as many as 115 Iran-linked individuals, entities, and ships involved in transporting Russian oil were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in August 2025.

India’s vulnerability in energy security is also aggravated due to lack of tanker ships under national flag. The current fleet account for only 5% of the total ships under national registry; however, the government has announced plans to increase this to 7% by 2030 and a significant 69% by 2047. Though ambitious, as per sources quoted by Bloomberg, 112 crude oil tankers at a cost of Rs 85,000 crore (approximately $10 billion) are planned to be acquired by 2040. The government has set up a Maritime Development Fund with a corpus of ₹25,000 crore which also encourages foreign shipbuilding partnership to boost indigenous shipbuilding.

Dr. Vijay Sakhuja is associated with Kalinga International Foundation, New Delhi.