{"id":16179,"date":"2025-11-26T06:53:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T06:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/?p=16179"},"modified":"2025-11-26T06:53:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T06:53:02","slug":"indian-banks-test-waters-for-russian-oil-financing-amid-tightened-u-s-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roydadnaft.ir\/English\/16179\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian Banks Test Waters for Russian Oil Financing Amid Tightened U.S. Sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"

RoydadNaft – <\/a><\/span>\u00a0Indian lenders, once gun-shy on Russian crude deals, are now dipping their toes back in, eyeing financing for oil trades that sidestep U.S. blacklists and stick to sanctions-compliant pricing\u2014provided the deals involve only non-sanctioned sellers, vessels, and payment rails, sources told Bloomberg on Tuesday.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

The shift comes as refiners scramble to verify every link in the supply chain, balancing the allure of discounted Urals crude against the peril of secondary sanctions that could lock them out of the U.S. financial system.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s Russian oil binge\u2014once accounting for a third of its seaborne crude imports\u2014has hit a wall since Washington\u2019s November sanctions hammered Russia\u2019s oil giants, Rosneft and Lukoil, on top of earlier curbs on Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas.\u00a0 <\/span>Most Indian refiners, including Reliance Industries and state-run behemoths like Indian Oil Corp., have bailed on December spot cargoes, wary of frozen payments or arbitration nightmares if a single sanctioned entity sneaks into the mix.\u00a0 <\/span>Only Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy, starved of alternatives after EU penalties, is holding firm on Russian barrels.<\/p>\n

The sanctions sting, but they\u2019re also a boon for buyers: Russia\u2019s Urals benchmark, once discounted $3 below Dated Brent, now trades at a mouthwatering $7-per-barrel haircut, tempting price-hungry refiners to hunt for loopholes.\u00a0 <\/span>Enter the banks: They\u2019ve rolled out a compliance playbook to greenlight refiner payment requests, potentially routed through UAE dirhams or Chinese yuan to dodge dollar scrutiny.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s a calculated pivot\u2014verifying origins, ship histories, and insurers down to the last detail,\u201d one insider noted, though the three-year cat-and-mouse game of sanctions evasion has made due diligence a Herculean task.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. Treasury officials, fresh off the sanctions rollout, hailed the compliance creep in India and China as a win for Washington\u2019s pressure campaign against Moscow\u2019s war chest.\u00a0 <\/span>Yet with loadings already dipping since late October and December imports projected at a three-year low, analysts warn the thaw could be fleeting.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cNon-sanctioned producers like Surgutneftegaz can plug some gaps, but intermediaries and shadow fleets will be key to keeping the flow alive,\u201d said Kpler\u2019s Sumit Ritolia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For India, the world\u2019s third-largest oil importer, this high-wire act underscores the geopolitical tightrope: Snag cheap Russian crude to fuel economic growth, or play it safe and watch energy costs spike? As Trump-era tensions linger\u2014recall his earlier finger-wagging at India as the Kremlin\u2019s \u201cmain financier\u201d\u2014the jury\u2019s out on how far New Delhi will push.\u00a0 <\/span>One thing\u2019s clear: In the sanctions shadow, every barrel tells a story of risk, reward, and relentless verification.<\/p>\n

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