US Sanctions

Recent Indian and US mid-sea operations have exposed a hidden system that allows sanctioned oil to bypass global restrictions through shadow tankers, false flags and offshore transfers

President Donald Trump said the US was beginning to talk with Cuban leaders as his administration is putting greater pressure on the communist-run island and cutting off key oil supplies. The Republican president made the comment to reporters on Saturday night as he was flying to Florida. It comes in the wake of his moves in recent weeks to cut off supplies of oil from Venezuela and Mexico, which he suggested Saturday would force Cuba to the negotiating table. His goals with Cuba remain unclear, but Trump has turned more of his attention toward the island after his administration in early January captured Venezuela's then-President Nicolas Maduro and has been more aggressive in confronting nations that are adversaries of the US. Trump has predicted that the Cuban government is ready to fall. He did not offer any details on Saturday about what level of outreach his administration has had with Cuba recently or when, but simply said, "We're starting to talk to Cuba." His recent moves

Donald Trump claimed India will buy Venezuelan oil instead of Iranian crude as Washington moves to cut Russia-linked oil trade and ease some sanctions on Venezuela

India will continue to look out for the best prices and best margins for its refiners, strategically changing its buying slate while also dropping Russian imports slightly, a Kpler analyst said

The US in October sanctioned Russia's two largest oil producers - Rosneft and Lukoil - giving companies until November 21 to wind down dealings with them

The nationwide protests challenging Iran's theocracy appeared increasingly smothered Thursday, a week after authorities shut the country off from the world and escalated a bloody crackdown that activists say has killed at least 2,637 people. The prospect of US retaliation for the deaths of protesters still hung over the region, though President Donald Trump signalled a possible de-escalation, saying the killing appeared to be ending. Meanwhile, the US announced new sanctions on Iranian officials accused of suppressing the protests, which began late last month over the country's faltering economy and the collapse of its currency. The Group of Seven industrialised democracies and the European Union said they too were looking at new sanctions to ratchet up the pressure on Iran's theocratic government. The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Iran for Thursday afternoon at the request of the United States. In Iran's capital, Tehran, witnesses said recent mornings show

Reliance Industries said its Jamnagar refinery has not received Russian crude in three weeks and expects no deliveries in January

As part of Trump's pressure campaign, US forces have launched strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats that have killed more than 100 people, and seized two oil tankers

The vessels, laden with nearly 2.2 million barrels of Urals, are currently signaling the huge Jamnagar complex and are expected to deliver their cargoes early this month

The U.S. on Wednesday imposed sanctions on four firms operating in Venezuela's oil sector and designated four additional oil tankers, which the U.S. accuses of being part of a shadow fleet serving Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro's government, as blocked property. The action is part of the Trump administration's monthslong pressure campaign on Maduro. U.S. forces also have seized two oil tankers off Venezuela's coast, are pursuing another and have conducted a series of deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. A set of strikes announced Wednesday increased the death toll from the attacks to at least 110 people since early September. And in a new escalation marking the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil, the CIA carried out a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by drug cartels. The latest sanctions from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control target ships called Nord

Overall Russian oil deliveries to India had slowed to as little as 712,000 barrels a day in the second week of December, before rising, according to Kpler

The private refiner will delay planned works and the closure of its 400,000 barrels-a-day complex from February until April 2026, according to people familiar with the matter

From tribunal capacity and procedural certainty to tanker seizures that could hit India's economy, today's Best of BS Opinion also looks at Budget-impact laws, AI agents, and a book on sanctions

The US has already sanctioned four top Russian producers and, along with other Group of Seven nations, hundreds of tankers involved in transporting Moscow's oil

Emergence of new sellers reflects the importance of the $60 bn Indo-Russian trade to oil producers and refiners of both nations

With the November 21 deadline now past, India's Russian crude inflows are easing but not collapsing as refiners pivot to non-sanctioned suppliers, tap alternatives and benefit from soft global prices

India's imports of Russian crude oil - the feedstock for fuels like petrol and diesel - are expected to drop sharply in the near term but not halt entirely as new US sanctions on Moscow's top oil exporters take full effect, analysts said. US sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, and their majority-owned subsidiaries, took effect on November 21, effectively turning crude linked to these firms into a "sanctioned molecule". India's crude oil imports from Russia, averaging 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, remained firm ahead of the cutoff, with November arrivals projected at 1.8-1.9 million bpd, as refiners maximise discounted purchases. But flows are expected to drop noticeably in December and January, with analysts estimating near-term declines to around 4,00,000 bpd. Traditionally, reliant on Middle Eastern oil, India significantly increased its imports from Russia following the February 2022 Ukraine invasion. Western sanctions and reduced European demand made Russian oil ...

Washington's move last month to blacklist top oil producers Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC is arguably its most aggressive to date under the current administration

India's Russian oil loadings at 3-yr low in Nov as refiners grow wary of US sanctions

US sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, along with the EU's ban on refined products derived from Russian crude, are unlikely to materially dent the margins or credit profiles of India's state-run oil marketing companies, Fitch Ratings said. The ratings agency warned, however, that the eventual impact will hinge on how long the sanctions last and how strictly they are enforced. Russian crude made up about a third of India's oil imports between January and August 2025, and its discounted rates have been a key boost to OMC profitability. Fitch expects the companies to adhere to sanctions, though some refiners may continue sourcing unsanctioned Russian barrels. Traditionally reliant on Middle Eastern oil, India significantly increased its imports from Russia following the February 2022 Ukraine invasion. Western sanctions and reduced European demand made Russian oil available at steep discounts. As a result, India's Russian crude imports surged from under 1 per cent to nearly 40 per cent of