New US sanctions target India's biggest crude grades from Russia

After targeting vessels carrying premium Russian crudes like Sokol to India that violate a sanctioned price cap in December, Washington is now gunning for tankers transporting the cheaper, Russian benchmark Urals, enforcing new sanctions every month.

Taken together, Urals and Sokol accounted for every 4 out of 5 barrels of Russian supplies to India last year, and 30 per cent of the country’s overall crude imports.

Washington’s latest sanction order came on February 8, when the Office of Foreign Assets Control, under the US Treasury Department, sanctioned three United Arab Emirates-based shipping/trading firms – Oil Tankers SCF Mgmt FZCO, Zeenit