New Delhi: India Thursday took aim at the latest sanctions by the United Kingdom on Nayara Energy, stressing that there should be “no double standards” on energy trade. The latest sanctions imposed by London on Nayara, come as it steps up its attempt to hurt Russian sources of revenue.
“We have noted the latest sanctions announced by the UK. India does not subscribe to any unilateral sanctions. The government of India considers the provision of energy security a responsibility of paramount importance to meet the basic needs of its citizens,” Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said at a regular press briefing Thursday.
He added: “Indian companies source energy supplies from around the world while taking overall market conditions into account. We would stress that there should be no double standards, especially when it comes to energy trade.”
Nayara Energy has come under the lens of Western governments given that 49.13 percent of the Indian company is owned by Russia’s petroleum giant Rosneft. Nayara, formerly Essar Oil Ltd, operates a refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat, which was hit with sanctions by the European Union (EU) in July this year.
The latest sanctions imposed by the UK will impact 90 entities, including Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil and gas company, along with four oil terminals in China, and 44 tankers part of the “shadow fleet” which London alleges was being used to ferry Russian oil.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in its statement Wednesday highlighted that Nayara purchased 100 million barrels of Russian crude worth over $5 billion in 2024 alone.
“The 90 new sanctions strike at the heart of Putin’s war funding, directly targeting Rosneft and Lukoil—two of the world’s biggest energy companies, which together export 3.1 million barrels of oil per day. Rosneft alone is responsible for 6 percent of global and nearly half of all Russian oil production,” the FCDO statement said.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper in a statement called the UK’s action as a “another step towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine”. The latest sanctions package announced by London further banned the imports of oil products refined in third countries from Russian-origin crude, which is similar to what the EU had done earlier.
“As Putin’s vital oil revenues shrink year-on-year under the weight of international sanctions, the Kremlin is scrambling to expand its liquified natural gas (LNG) industry to plug these losses. The UK is today also sanctioning seven specialised LNG tankers and the Chinese Beihai LNG terminal. Beihai has been importing LNG from Arctic LNG2–the severely disrupted flagship Russian LNG project, sanctioned by the UK in February 2024,” added the FCDO statement.
India and the UK have seen an upswing in ties in recent years, with both countries concluding and signing a free trade agreement in May this year. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer led a business delegation consisting of over 100 businesspersons to Mumbai last week and held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Defence and strategic ties between New Delhi and London have also grown, with agreements signed last week in this regard. However, with regards to the Russia-Ukraine war, the two countries have differing positions.
London has been one of the biggest supporters of Kyiv since just before the war broke out in February 2022. India, on the other hand, has increased its purchases of Russian oil since the war began, while calling for both Moscow and Kyiv to negotiate an end to the war. In 2024-2025, India purchased some $56 billion worth of crude oil from Russia.
The UK is a part of the G7 countries that introduced a price cap on Russian oil at the end of 2022 to curtail Moscow’s revenues from its sale. The price cap, meant to ensure the sale of Russian crude below $60 a barrel, saw India increase its purchases of oil from Moscow.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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