India's Adani bans entry of sanctioned ships at its ports, sources say

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, Sept 11 (Reuters) - India's largest private port operator, Adani Group, has banned entry of tankers that are sanctioned by Western countries at all of its ports, three sources said and documents show, a move that could hit Russian oil supplies for two Indian refiners.

Adani did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

India is the biggest buyer of Russian seaborne oil, mostly shipped on tankers that are sanctioned by the European Union, the United States and Britain.

HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd, which operates a 226,000-barrels per day Bathinda refinery in northern Punjab state, gets all of its crude supplies at Adani's Mundra Port in western Gujarat state.

The port is also used by Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS, the country's biggest refiner, for oil imports. IOC gets crude supplies for its 10 refineries at multiple ports in India.

The two companies regularly get Russian oil delivered at Mundra Port, according to data obtained from sources and LSEG trade flows.

IOC and HMEL had no immediate comment.

India has a policy to follow only U.N. sanctions, and not unilateral sanctions by any country.

IOC will try to get Russian oil cargoes at other ports, which still allow entry of EU and UK sanctioned-vessels, said a source familiar with IOC's oil purchases.

Adani, which operates 14 ports, has issued multiple orders with similar contents.

"To safeguard the legal and commercial interests of the Port, we hereby emphasize that sanctioned vessels are not accepted," Adani Ports and Logistics said in the orders seen by Reuters.

India, the biggest buyer of seaborne Russian oil, has been tightening surveillance of vessels and transactions involving Russian supplies.

Russian oil is mostly shipped by a shadow fleet, after the U.S., EU and UK imposed a raft of sanctions targeting vessels, traders and companies among others to curb Moscow's oil revenue, its economic lifeline.

The orders said that sanctioned vessels shall not be permitted entry, berthing or use of port services and facilities.

"At the time of nomination, the vessel's agent shall be required to provide written undertaking that the vessel is not subject to sanctions," the orders said.