Hours after reports of a ship carrying Iranian crude heading towards India, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways said it was not aware of any such development.
When Mukesh Mangal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, was asked about an Iranian oil ship heading towards India, he replied that the government had “no specific information” about the ship. Mangal said this during an inter-ministerial press conference on recent developments in West Asia.
PTI news agency reported that ship tracking data had earlier indicated that the first shipment of Iranian-Indian crude oil since 2019 may be heading towards a port in Gujarat state.
The cargo ship Ping Shun headed to Vadinar in Gujarat: Analyst
Sumit Retulia, senior research analyst for refining and modeling at commodity market analysis firm Kpler, had earlier suggested that the Ping Shun was en route to Vadinar in Gujarat with 600,000 barrels of crude oil on board.
HT was unable to independently verify the accuracy of the information.
This comes after “a 30-day window for Iranian oil ‘in the waters’ granted by the administration of US President Donald Trump due to the regional conflict,” the agency quoted Retolia. Imports from Iran stopped as of May 2019 after US sanctions tightened on Iranian oil in 2018. Quantities were replaced with Middle Eastern, US and other crudes.
The city of Vadinar, where the ship was reportedly headed, includes the oil refinery of Russian oil giant Nayara Energy, which is backed by Rosneft. The US window for transporting Iranian oil ends on April 19. An estimated 95 million barrels of Iranian oil are on board ships at sea, Press TI reported.
“Sufficient quantities of gasoline and diesel are available.”
Meanwhile, Sujata Sharma, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said India currently has “adequate quantities of petrol and diesel available”.
“To ensure adequate availability of ATF and diesel in the domestic market, the Government of India has also imposed an export tax…,” Sharma said during the inter-ministerial press conference. The joint secretary also appealed to citizens to “avoid panic buying.”
