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Buyers and ports in China and India steer clear of sanctioned tankers, stalling Russia’s oil trade

Source: Reuters

The latest U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sector have raised the cost of chartering tankers not under restrictions so significantly that trade with China and India for delivery in March has stalled, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Traders familiar with the market told journalists that the price to charter tankers unaffected by U.S. sanctions surged by several million dollars after new American sanctions hit Russia’s hydrocarbons industry and shadow fleet vessels. 

In India, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd’s finance chief told Reuters last week that the company hasn’t received any new offers for March delivery and expected the number of cargoes offered for March to drop from January and December 2024.

In 2024, 36 percent of India’s oil imports and nearly one-fifth of China’s oil imports came from Russia. Earlier this month, at least 65 oil tankers dropped anchor off the coasts of China and Russia after the U.S. imposed sanctions that reportedly impact roughly 10 percent of the global oil tanker fleet.