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Russian oil continues to penetrate into Europe: India becomes a key transit point

22 May 2023 12:11 (UTC +04:00)

Ignoring the embargo, Russian intermediaries in third countries, especially in India, continue to supply oil to the European Union, myc.news.

According to information published by Spiegel, every day at least two tankers of Russian oil arrive at ports in India, which amounts to about 70 tankers per month. Some of this oil eventually finds its way into the EU.

The EU has imposed several packages of sanctions against Russia since the beginning of the conflict with Ukraine. Since December July 2023, Russian oil has been banned from being imported into the EU by sea, and since February 2023, an embargo on diesel fuel and gasoline has been introduced.

However, this does not mean that Russian oil has stopped getting to Europe in a processed form. This has now become a costly and complex process involving long transit routes.

Data analytics company Kpler tracks tanker and cargo ship routes by studying global supply chains. According to their data, after the imposition of sanctions, world oil transportation was redistributed.

Tankers carrying Russian oil head east to Turkey, Saudi Arabia and especially India, rather than west to the EU.

India has several oil refineries on its west coast, including the largest in the world.

Here, Russian oil is processed into gasoline and diesel fuel.. And it seems that these products are coming back to Europe.

In April, India shipped more fuel to the EU than ever before, ahead of even Saudi Arabia, according to data from Kpler. The two countries fill much of the gap in fuel supplies to Europe since the February embargo.

It is important to note that the fact that Russian oil is returned to Europe in the form of processed products is not actually illegal.

The refined products are considered Indian, and the Vadinar refinery in India is 50% owned by the Russian oil company Rosneft.