Rosneft accuses EU of unreasonable sanctions against refineries in India
Photo: Rosneft owns almost half of the shares in the Indian refinery (Getty Images)
Rosneft says the new EU sanctions against India's Nayara Energy refinery are allegedly unjustified and illegal, Bloomberg reports.
In particular, on Friday, the European Union adopted the 18th package of sanctions against Russia and its oil trade.
The measures adopted include sanctions against an Indian refinery, in which Rosneft owns 49.13%. The step was taken as the EU seeks to reduce the Kremlin's revenues generated by oil exports from Russia to India.
Today, Rosneft said that the Nayara Energy refinery is fully taxed in India.
"Nayara Energy shareholders have never received dividend payments and the accumulated profits have been used exclusively for the development of the refinery and petrochemicals and the company’s retail network in India," the statement said.
In addition, Rosneft expects Nayara to "take measures to protect the legitimate interests of its shareholders and consumers, which will be supported by the governments of Russia and India."
On Friday, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that his country "does not support any unilateral sanctions."
Nayara
Nayara operates a 400 thousand barrels per day refinery and owns nearly 7 thousand gas stations across India. The company is also building an integrated petrochemical plant next to its refinery.
Currently, Nayara is jointly financed by Rosneft and the investment consortium SOV Kesani Enterprises, with the remaining shares owned by private investors.
According to local media, a Russian oil company sought to withdraw from the Indian venture because it could not repatriate its profits due to sanctions.
18th EU sanctions package
For the first time, the EU has included Chinese banks in the 18th package of sanctions against Russia. Among other foreign companies that helped the Kremlin, two Chinese financial institutions were blacklisted.
In addition, the new package of sanctions includes a price cap on Russian oil, a ban on transactions related to the Nord Stream gas pipeline, and more.
Read more about this in RBC-Ukraine's article.
