The United States expressed its concern to India that the Indian vessel could be used to export Russian oil products to New York, bypassing sanctions. The announcement was made on Saturday, August 13, by the deputy head of the Central Bank of India, Michael Patra, at a meeting with government officials, financiers and bankers in the Indian state of Odisha.

“You know that sanctions are now in place against buyers of Russian oil, and we have received the following information from the US Treasury,” Patra told Reuters quoting Patra: “An Indian ship encountered a Russian tanker offshore, pumped his oil. and delivered it to the port of Gujarat, where the oil was processed into a distillate that is used to make single-use plastic”. According to the official, this processed product was then delivered by the same ship to New York.

Michael Patra did not give the name of the ship in question or any other details. The US Embassy in India has not yet commented on the situation.

India violates oil embargo?

After the US and EU imposed an import embargo on Russian oil and oil products, India quickly became one of its biggest exporters, buying oil from Russia at a reduced price. At the same time, in June, accusations began to be heard against India that it was violating the embargo by supplying Russian oil refining products to the EU and the US. Fact-checking by DW showed that this was possible, but there was no direct evidence at the time.

Meanwhile, also in June, the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal wrote that Russian oil still ends up in the United States, despite the embargo. One of the schemes used for this, the publication called only the pumping of crude oil between ships on the high seas, and then its delivery, indicating a different origin. Traders also concealed the fact that gasoline, diesel and other products were produced from Russian oil, including in Indian refineries.