India has arrested 3 oil tankers accused of participating in oil smuggling in a coordinated maritime and ground operation, considered the country's first action against the so-called "dark fleet" - ships that frequently change names and flags to evade control and international sanctions.
According to the Indian Coast Guard, on February 6, this agency dismantled "a transnational oil smuggling ring", taking advantage of oil transshipment activities at sea in international waters.
Cheap oil, originating from conflict zones, is pumped from ship to ship to evade taxes and evade the supervision of coastal countries.
Three suspicious ships were intercepted in western Mumbai and are being escorted to port for investigation and legal processing. The Coast Guard emphasizes that these are ships that "repeatly change their identities", a typical feature of the shadow fleet.
The escort of these ships to Mumbai demonstrates India's increasingly clear role as a maritime security provider and a protector of international order based on law," the force's statement stated.
According to sources in the maritime transport industry, this is the first time New Delhi has directly acted against ships of the shadow fleet, instead of just monitoring or warning.
This move takes place in the context of the US and the European Union increasing pressure, seeking to tighten sanctioned oil shipping routes, especially oil from Russia and some other conflict zones.
Not only meaningful for law enforcement at sea, the arrest also reflects a remarkable change in India's energy policy.
Washington is putting pressure on New Delhi to restrict, even stop, Russian oil imports as part of bilateral trade negotiations. In that context, Indian oil refineries are said to be clearly more cautious with supplies from Russia.
Oil deals for April have begun to be negotiated, but many large Indian refineries are still avoiding Russian oil. The Indian Oil Corporation, the country's largest state-owned oil refinery, has sharply increased oil purchases from West Africa and the Middle East to diversify supply sources.
Not only the Indian Oil Corporation, two other "giants" Bharat Oil Corporation and private enterprise Reliance Industries also did not place any additional spot orders for Russian crude oil in the past week, according to sources directly knowledgeable about oil purchase contracts.
