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Sources say that Saudi Aramco and Iraq's SOMO have stopped crude sales to Indian refiner Nayara.

Three sources with knowledge of the situation said that Saudi Aramco, Iraq's SOMO state oil company and India's Nayara Energy have ceased selling crude oil after the European Union imposed sanctions in July on the Russian-backed refiner.

According to LSEG data and sources, the halting in supply of crude oil from two Gulf exporters meant that Nayara, which is majority owned by Russian entities, including Rosneft oil giant, was reliant on Russia exclusively for its crude imports during August.

Shipping data from Kpler & LSEG revealed that Nayara usually receives 2 million barrels per month of Iraqi and 1 million barrels per month of Saudi crude. However, in August, neither of these suppliers sent any shipments to Nayara.

SOMO and Nayara have not responded to requests for comments. Saudi Aramco refused to comment.

Two sources, who declined to provide further details, said that Nayara had experienced payment difficulties for its purchases from SOMO due to the sanctions.

According to Kpler, LSEG and industry sources as well as Kpler data and LSEG's data on the latest cargo of Basra oil from SOMO, it was discharged by Kalliopi (a VLCC) at Vadinar Port for Nayara on July 29.

According to LSEG, the private refiner received a million barrels each of Basrah Heavy and Arab Light on July 18th.

An official of the Russian Embassy at New Delhi stated last month that Nayara receives direct supplies from Rosneft.

Sources have stated that the private company operates its Vadinar refinery in western India, which produces 400,000 barrels per day at 70-80% of its capacity because it is having difficulty selling its products due to sanctions.

Nayara Energy controls 8% of India’s 5.2 million barrels per day refining capacity. Since the EU sanctions were imposed, it has struggled to transport fuel, relying instead on vessels from the so-called "dark fleet" after other shippers backed off, according to shipping data and LSEG.

The CEO of the company resigned in August. Nayara announced last week that a senior executive of Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR would be its new chief executive. (Reporting and editing by Tony Munroe, Jan Harvey, and Mohi Nrayan; Additional reporting from Ahmed Rasheed, New Delhi; Mohi Nrayan, Baghdad; Florence Tan, Singapore)

(source: Reuters)