Things are going to change for Nayara Energy, a large Indian refiner, in which Russia’s Rosneft has a sizable stake. Nayara Energy was named specifically among entities to be sanctioned by the EU. The Indian company condemned the sanctions as “unjust and unilateral”, echoing New Delhi’s official response to the sanction package, which said the Indian government did not support that package.
West Texas Intermediate slipped near $65 a barrel after earlier rising as much as 1.5%. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the negotiations had been “fruitful.” Still, the talks haven’t yielded conclusive progress and may stretch into the night. Some Canadian oil sands production that was shut down by fires is coming back online, also easing prices off of intraday highs.
The rebranding of the crude has cut transportation costs for Venezuelan crude and facilitated U.S. sanction circumvention, the report noted. Before, traders resorted to ship-to-ship transfer at sea to mask the crude but now they have taken to manipulating vessels’ location signals to make it look like they are travelling from Brazilian ports instead of Venezuelan ones, data from TankerTrackers.com has shown, per Reuters.
China, meanwhile, reported March oil imports of over 12 million barrels daily, which was the highest import rate since August 2023, and came thanks to a ramp-up in purchases from Iran and Russia as traders found ways around the latest U.S. sanctions on both exporters. China’s crude oil imports over the first two months of the year fell by 5% compared to the same period of 2024 as the farewell round of sanctions that the Biden administration imposed on Russian energy affected international flows.
According to a White House fact sheet, steel, aluminum, gold and copper imports won’t be subject to reciprocal tariffs, providing at least some relief to domestic buyers who are already bearing the cost of Section 232 tariffs of 25% on all imports of some key metals. Gold, however, jumped as much as 1.1% to a record as investors sought safety following the tariff headlines. Bullion has climbed more than 20% this year after a ferocious run in 2024.
Traders have booked more non-sanctioned tankers to deliver crude to India, while the price of Russia’s flagship Urals grade has dropped to below the $60 per barrel price cap by the G7, allowing shipments involving Western companies, Reuters reported earlier this month, citing ship-tracking data and trading sources. Daily rates for non-sanctioned tankers on the western Russia to India route have spiked to the highest in a year, incentivizing more shippers to offer such cargoes.