India receives first Russian Sokol oil at Vadinar after hiatus

The ship — the Aframax tanker Jaguar — offloaded its cargo at Vadinar in western India, where Nayara Energy Ltd receives oil for its Gujarat refinery of the same name, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The vessel can transport about 700,000 barrels of oil.

An official from Nayara Energy said Tuesday 6 Feb that the company is looking to get a shipment of Sokol this week. They were speaking on the sidelines of India Energy Week, currently taking place in Goa. Vessels loaded Russian Sokol crude from other tankers in the waters around North Asia, before making their way to India

Market observers have been keenly monitoring the movement of two tankers filled with Sokol crude — Jaguar and Seagull — as the ships move closer to India’s shores. The Seagull is headed for Mumbai, where it’s due to arrive Tuesday.

Since late last year, the South Asian nation has had issues receiving cargoes of Sokol. That comes amid questions around the ownership structure of Sakhalin-1 LLC — which extracts the oil from beneath the waters of the east coast of Russia’s Sakhalin Island — and whether crude might have traded above the Group of Seven’s $60-a-barrel price cap on Russian oil.

It remains unclear if those issues have been fully resolved. As it stands, 16 more cargoes of Sokol crude meant for Indian buyers are stranded, sitting in tankers anchored off Singapore, or close to the coast of South Korea. Three more cargoes are awaiting transfer from the shuttle tankers that haul them from Sakhalin Island.

Meanwhile, some Sokol cargoes are finding takers in China, which has historically imported heavier Russian grades such as ESPO and Urals. Four January-loading Sokol cargoes have headed to Chinese ports, up from the more normal one or two cargoes per month seen recently.