RIYADH:
Saudi Aramco and Iraq’s state oil company SOMO have stopped selling crude oil to India’s Nayara Energy in the aftermath of sanctions imposed in July by the European Union on the Russian-backed refiner, three sources familiar with the matter said.
The halting of supply from the two Gulf exporters means Nayara, majority-owned by Russian entities including oil major Rosneft, relied entirely on Russia for its crude oil imports in August, according to sources and LSEG shipping data.
Nayara typically receives around two million barrels of Iraqi crude and 1m barrels of Saudi crude each month, but did not receive shipments from either of the two suppliers during August, shipping data from Kpler and LSEG showed.
SOMO and Nayara did not respond to requests for comment. Saudi Aramco declined to comment.
Two of the sources said that the sanctions had created payment problems for Nayara’s purchases from SOMO, without providing further details.
