The year 2024 marks the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine for Russia, with unprecedented financial reserves in government coffers, bolstered by record crude oil sales to India of around $37 billion Last year. This analysis reveals that some of these crude oil transfers were refined by India before being exported to the United States as petroleum products worth more than $1 billion.
According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), at the origin of this analysis shared exclusively with CNN, these increased purchases of Russian oil by India represent more than 13 times the pre- war. New Delhi, a strategic partner of the United States, has thus come to replace crude oil purchases from Western countries, reduced by sanctions linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although Russian crude oil sales to India are not subject to sanctions and are entirely legitimate, shipping route experts suggest this massive volume of transfers could involve Russia’s so-called “ghost fleet.” oil companies, specially created by Moscow to try to conceal who it trades with and how, and thus maximize the Kremlin’s profits.
Many similar transfers take place each week in Greece’s Laconian Gulf, a convenient transit point en route to the Suez Canal and Asian markets, analysts say.
In February, the U.S. Treasury announced new sanctions against ships and companies suspected of helping move Russian crude oil in violation of U.S. sanctions, with the aim of disrupting the operation of the Russian shadow fleet.
The United States led a coalition of countries in late 2022 that agreed to a “price cap,” pledging not to buy Russian oil at a price higher than $60 a barrel. These countries have also banned their shipping and insurance companies – key players in global shipping – from facilitating Russian oil trade above this price.
The Shadow Fleet allowed Russia to create a parallel transportation structure capable of resisting the changing tactics and focus of Western sanctions, with hundreds of tankers of opaque ownership, using complex routes. Windward estimates that fleet grew to 1,800 ships last year.
The net impact of India’s oil purchases has been to weaken pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin from oil sanctions. Russia’s federal revenues hit a record $320 billion in 2023 and are expected to rise further.