Aerial top view of oil tanker ship at sea, Crude oil tanker industrial, Oil tanker import export business logistic, Industrial crude oil and fuel tanker ship deep blue open ocean sea.
By Weilun Soon and Rakesh Sharma
Apr 4, 2025 (Bloomberg) –A cargo of Russian crude that was on a ship rejected by Indian port authorities is now being transferred to another tanker, ship-tracking data show, a sign of how traders are finding ways to skirt regulatory hurdles to keep sensitive freight moving.
The Honduras-flagged Andaman Skies is now in the midst of moving its 767,000 barrels of Russian arctic crude to Ozanno, which sails under the flag of Sao Tome and Principe, according to ship-tracking platform Kpler. This came after authorities banned it from entering India because it didn’t have the documents to prove its seaworthiness. Ozanno is scheduled to dock at an unspecified port in west India this weekend.
India’s shipping ministry spokesperson didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment. Andaman Skies’ cargo was meant for state-owned Indian Oil. A company spokesperson didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
India has been a key buyer of Russia’s seaborne crude after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered several rounds of sanctions from the west Since then, traders have been finding ways to overcome hurdles due to US penalties by masking ships’ or cargoes’ connections to blacklisted entities.
However, the problems faced by Andaman Skies, which isn’t blacklisted by Washington but is sanctioned by the UK and EU, appeared to be more mundane and only tied to the lack of the required documentation for port entry. Since being denied access nearly two weeks ago, the ship had been lingering off the coast of Mumbai, apparently seeking to find a way to offload its Varandey crude that was lifted from Murmansk.
Ozanno, an Aframax that was built in 2008, most recently lifted 730,000 barrels of Urals crude from Primorsk, and discharged those in Jamnagar on India’s west coast on March 28, data show.
© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.
This article contains reporting from Bloomberg, published under license.
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