World Oil Traders refuse to work with Indian Nayara Energy related to Russia

Many global oil traders and banks have stopped dealing with Indian refiner Nayara Energy, a Rosneft affiliate, as they are worried about Western sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Rosneft owns about 49% of Nayara which is India's second-largest private refiner, while Kesani Enterprises Co Ltd, a consortium led by Trafigura Group and Russia's UCP Investment Group, holds 49.13%.

Most trading firms including Vitol and Glencor as well as producers in Canada, Latin America and Europe have declined to directly sell crude to Nayara, according to one of the people.

Nayara was now dependent on state-run Middle Eastern producers, Chinese traders, companies supplying Russian oil as well as local crude oil producers.

Companies that have declined to deal with Nayara include Phillips 66, Occidental Petroleum Corp, Cepsa, Equinor, Gunvor, Koch, Petrogal, Respsol, Shell, Suncor Energy, Ecopetrol and TotalEnergies, the second person said.

Banks and other firms that have refused to work on new hedging positions for Nayara include Citigroup , Morgan Stanley , BNP Paribas, JPMorgan , France's Engie as well as the core banking units of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, they said.

Nayara, which accounts for 8% of India's refining capacity, said it had longstanding relationships with its suppliers, works with a diverse set of suppliers and has appropriate contracts for the purchase of crude oil.