14 tankers with oil from the Russian Federation have been waiting for shipment for several weeks

Due to problems with the organization of payment, tankers with Russian oil have not been able to ship it to India for several weeks. This was reported by the Reuters news agency.

According to Reuters, 14 tankers carrying ten million barrels of Russian oil produced as part of the Sakhalin-1 project are standing off the coast of South Korea, waiting for the exporter Rosneft and the Indian importer Indian Oil Co to resolve a dispute over the payment of oil. .

Last year, out of fear of falling under US sanctions, the Indian company refused to use dollars in oil payments, and offered to conduct operations in rupees. Russian companies refuse to accept rupees as payment, because it is a non-convertible currency, and imports from India to Russia are minimal.

As a temporary measure, India paid for Russian oil in yuan, Hong Kong dollars and UAE dirhams. However, the Emirates introduce additional control over the use of their currency in such operations, and India does not want to use yuan – the currency of China, which it considers its competitor.

As Reuters reports, the volume of oil on the tankers is equivalent to one and a half months of production within the framework of the Sakhalin-1 project. According to sources in the Indian company, they do not expect to resume supplies in the near future. Representatives of Rosneft and Indian Oil Co did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

In March 2022, the American concern ExxonMobil, which headed the international consortium engaged in field development and oil and gas production as part of the Sakhalin-1 project, announced its withdrawal from its membership in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.