Russian Oil Tanker Bound for China Diverted to India
A Russian oil tanker originally headed to China has made a dramatic mid-voyage U-turn in the South China Sea and is now racing toward India’s New Mangalore port, according to Bloomberg reports and ship-tracking data.
The Aqua Titan, carrying a cargo of Urals crude loaded from a Baltic Sea port in late January, is scheduled to arrive at New Mangalore on March 21. The rerouting highlights India’s aggressive push to secure alternative supplies as a major conflict in the Middle East, involving the US and Iran, has severely disrupted maritime traffic through the critical Strait of Hormuz.
The strait, a chokepoint for roughly 20% of global oil trade, has seen near-total halts in vessel movements in recent weeks due to the escalating war. This has cut off millions of barrels per day of traditional Middle Eastern supplies to India, the world’s third-largest oil importer.
Indian refiners have responded by sharply increasing purchases of Russian crude. Imports from Russia surged more than 50% in the first half of March, reaching approximately 1.5 million barrels per day compared to pre-crisis levels of around 800,000–1 million bpd. State-run companies, including Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd., have snapped up cargoes, with reports indicating over 30 million barrels secured since early March.
The US Treasury facilitated this shift by issuing a 30-day waiver (valid until early April) allowing India to purchase Russian oil already loaded on vessels before certain cutoff dates, despite ongoing sanctions pressures. This move aims to ease global supply strains and prevent sharper oil price spikes amid the Hormuz disruptions.
For Russia, the developments represent a significant windfall. Elevated global crude prices, driven by the conflict, have boosted Moscow’s oil revenues to an estimated $350–400 million per day since the broader tensions escalated. Industry sources note that Russia has offloaded large volumes from floating storage, including around 110 million barrels purchased by India at prices near $95 per barrel.
The Aqua Titan’s diversion is part of a broader pattern: multiple Russian tankers originally bound for East Asia (including China and Singapore) have redirected to Indian ports in recent days, capitalizing on New Delhi’s urgent demand for discounted, though now less heavily discounted, Urals crude.
