What is Nayara, the Indian firm Russia is reportedly importing oil from?
An Indian oil firm, Nayara Energy, has reportedly sold petroleum to Russia as Ukrainian attacks continue to target oil refineries across the country, triggering a
An Indian oil firm, Nayara Energy, has reportedly sold petroleum to Russia as Ukrainian attacks continue to target oil refineries across the country, triggering a fuel crisis. On Wednesday, industry sources told Reuters that at least 60,000 metric tonnes of petrol had been dispatched from India to Russia and that two oil tankers, with loads of 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes each, had been sent. Two separate sources told the news agency on Thursday that the gasoline was produced by Nayara Energy and sold to Russia via traders. While this has not been confirmed by Nayara, Indian Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday that while Indian companies were not selling fuel directly to Russia, it was “possible” that Russia had purchased Indian-origin fuel via international traders. Here’s what we know so far. What has caused Russia’s energy crisis? In recent months, Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian oil facilities, setting them ablaze and causing long lines for fuel across the country, including in the capital, Moscow. The fuel crisis, unprecedented for Russia, a country that is one of the world’s biggest energy producers, has led to rationing in many regions. According to a count by The Associated Press, since March, there have been more than 50 reported attacks by Ukraine on Russian oil refineries, depots, terminals and other energy infrastructure.
Attacks have also been recorded in the Crimean peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014. The count also found that some oil facilities have been struck more than once, including the refinery in the Black Sea town of Tuapse, which was struck four times. On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged at a meeting with government ministers and other officials that Ukrainian strikes on the country’s oil refineries had triggered fuel shortages in some regions. But Putin said that the shortages were “not critical” and “temporary”. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday said on Telegram that “Putin can go on and on, claiming on TV that he supposedly has everything under control”, but Russians can see that the war “has reached the point where even an oil state – a gas station, as Russia used to be called – is now facing gas shortages”. What is Nayara Energy? An oil refining and marketing company, Nayara runs India’s second-largest private oil refinery in Vadinar, in the western state of Gujarat, with the capacity to process 400,000 barrels of crude per day. It purchased the refinery from an Indian company, Essar, in 2015 when the Indian firm was struggling financially. But it was no ordinary transaction: The deal was part of a complex part-government, part-private arrangement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on.
The BriefWire