Sanctioned oil tanker nears Adani Port laden with Russian crude

A sanctioned tanker carrying Russian oil has neared an Indian port operated by Adani Group, and will likely be one of the last blacklisted vessels to unload at the conglomerate’s facilities after a ban took effect.

The Spartan, a Suezmax carrying about 1 million barrels of Urals crude, was off Mundra port on Sunday near an offshore discharge point that services refiner HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd., according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, Kpler and Vortexa. The vessel was sanctioned last year by the European Union and the UK for allegedly helping facilitate the export of Russian oil.

Last week, Adani formally prohibited vessels sanctioned by the EU, UK or the US from calling at Mundra, according to a report from the Economic Times, citing an advisory dated Sept. 11. The ban is effectively immediately, but it doesn’t apply to ships that were already on their way to the port, a spokesperson for operator Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. said on Monday.

India’s purchases of Russian crude have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, with President Donald Trump implementing crushing tariffs on the nation for its role in the trade. The US plans to ratchet up the pressure, and will urge its allies in the Group of Seven to impose levies as high as 100% on New Delhi and Beijing for their oil transactions with Moscow to end the Ukraine war.

Over the first eight months of this year, Mundra received about 180,000 barrels a day of Russian crude, according to data compiled by Vortexa, compared with overall flows to India of 1.6 million barrels a day. Oil discharged at the port is delivered to refineries operated by state-run Indian Oil Corp. or HMEL.

A spokesperson for HMEL didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Citrine Marine SPC and Nova Shipmanagement LLC-FZ are listed as registered owner and manager of Spartan, respectively, on maritime database Equasis, which did not provide phone numbers or email contacts for those entities.

Adani Group, led by billionaire Gautam Adani, is currently under the spotlight from US authorities on several fronts, including a Justice Department probe on whether any Adani entity was involved in the importation of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas, which would be a violation of US sanctions.