China-bound Russian oil tanker diverted to India

A crude oil tanker that set sail from Primorsk in Russia for Rizhao port in China has changed course in Southeast Asia and is now heading towards the New Mangalore port with 1.1 lakh tonnes (7.7 lakh barrels) of Urals crude, showed ship-tracking data. The ship is expected to reach Mangaluru on March 20.

According to marinetraffic.com, Aqua Titan, a Cameroon-registered tanker, left the Russian port on January 18. It anchored at Port Suez and departed on February 21, showed vesselfinder.com.

Sources in the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA) told The Hindu that Aqua Titan’s arrival would boost the confidence of the refiner, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd., (MRPL). They said with one tanker already discharging Russian Urals crude at the Single Point Mooring (SPM) on Wednesday, NMPA would receive at least three more tankers by month-end.

Ships originating from Primorsk usually take the route via Suez Canal to reach India’s west coast on the Arabian Sea. But ship-tracking website Equasis said the Aqua Titan was seen in North Europe and West Europe in January, South Asia in February, Southeast Asia and Singapore Strait in March, indicating that it circumvented India and then made a U-turn in Southeast Asia to head to India.

Usually, chartered ships do not change course midway. But the Aqua Titan is a sanctioned vessel. “This is a highly sanctioned fleet owned by the Russian government. The Aqua Titan is also sanctioned so the transparency is even worse. Essentially, the dark fleet vessels are controlled by the Russian state in the end,” said Erik Grundt, senior analyst, Rystad Energy, an energy intelligence company based in Norway.

Reports said the vessel made a U-turn in mid-March after the U.S. said India could import Russian crude for 30 days.

The Aqua Titan, formerly Lang Ya, was sanctioned by the U.K., Australia, Canada, EU and Ukraine. Last June, the ship was among 60 ships sanctioned by the Australian government for carrying Russian crude oil. Back then, the Australian government had said that these ships operate “under deceptive practices, including flag-hopping, disabling tracking systems”.

Saudi crude on the way

With the closure of Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabian crude is now being diverted through the Yanbu Port that houses King Fahd Industrial Port on the Red Sea, NMPA sources said. Yanbu, located on the Western Coast of Saudi Arabia, has the East-West Petroline Terminal. Though a bit longer, the route avoids the volatile Strait of Hormuz thereby offering safe passage to tankers.

While one oil tanker with 1.36 lakh tonnes of crude left Yanbu on Tuesday (March 17, 2026), another was being loaded with 2.6 lakh tonnes of crude for Mangalore. With crude from two Russian tankers and two from Saudi Arabia, MRPL will have enough stock. The refiner, with an installed capacity of refining 18.2 million tonnes of crude per annum, roughly requires about 1.5 million tonnes crude a month.

So far in March, NMPA has handled two tankers at the SPM and three coastal crude vessels at the main port, sources added.

Cargo charges waived off

Ever since the conflict began in West Asia affecting supply of petroleum products to India, the Mangalore port has waived off cargo charges both for crude and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers, sources said.

For one lakh tonne crude, the cargo charges would come to around ₹34 lakh. Vessel-handling charges, however, would continue to be collected. For LPG Tanker Shivalik that was supposed to arrive at New Mangalore Port with 26,000 tonnes of LPG, the port had promised to waive off ₹50 lakh cargo charges.

Back to Russian crude

Last August, India was slapped 25% tariffs by the U.S. for buying Russian crude oil. In February, after India and U.S. signed the interim trade agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that “India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil” and revoked the punitive tariffs.

At its peak, India imported almost 40% of its crude oil from Russia following the Ukraine war at discounted rates. The share was 33% in May 2025. But India cut back on Russian crude imports that fell fell to 19.3% in January 2026, the lowest since December 2022.

Following the U.S.-Israel attack on Iran and the de factor closure of the Strait of Hormuz, crude oil prices spiked due to shortage. On March 6, the U.S. temporarily provided India a waiver to buy Russian crude again. “The Treasury (Department) agreed to let our allies in India start buying Russian oil that was already on the water,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had told Fox Business.