The United States has raised concerns with India that the country is being used as a platform to disguise the export of products produced from Russian oil to New York. These operations to camouflage the origin of crude oil — whose importation has been prohibited by several Western countries, including the European Union — would involve shipments made far from the coast to hide the origin of the product. The news is being advanced by Reuters, which quotes a senior Indian central bank official.
The US Treasury Department, the agency tasked with enforcing and enforcing the sanctions, warned India that an Indian ship had picked up crude oil from a Russian tanker offshore and brought it to the port of Gujarat, in the west coast, where that product was refined and shipped.
This information was provided by Deputy Governor Michael Patra of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India. According to the same source, the refined product was loaded on an oil tanker that went to sea without a predefined destination. Only during navigation, the ship was informed of the port of discharge and headed for New York, which could represent a violation of US sanctions imposed on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. The discharged product would be a distillate used to manufacture single-use plastic.
The United States, together with the United Kingdom, was one of the first countries to impose a total boycott on imports of oil and its derivatives (fuels and distillates), as well as coal and natural gas, as a sanction against Russia. India, like China, has not joined Western sanctions and has even increased purchases of Russian oil for its refineries, taking advantage of the fact that it is being sold at a considerable discount.
The deputy governor’s remarks were made at an event marking the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, but there were no comments from the US embassy in the country.
Source: Observadora
