Russia received its first-ever gasoline shipment from India on Aug. 5, turning to Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy to offset fuel shortages caused by sustained Ukrainian strikes on domestic refineries.
The cargo was assembled through a series of ship-to-ship transfers in Egypt. The Russian-flagged tanker Cyclone loaded roughly 42,000 tonnes of gasoline from Nayara's Vadinar refinery in mid-June, and the fuel was later relayed to the tanker Garnet at the port of Damietta. A second vessel, the Farg, also lifted about 40,000 tonnes from Vadinar, while the Photon departed in mid-July with its cargo transferred to the Russian tanker Talisman in Egypt later that month.
Russian crude throughput fell to roughly 3.6 million barrels per day in July, estimated by EA Analytics as the lowest since May 2002. Ukraine has targeted at least 26 Russian energy facilities since the start of the year, hitting five refineries last week alone and damaging the ZapSibNeftekhim petrochemical complex in Tobolsk, which handles roughly 40 percent of Russia's LPG output. Moscow has already extended a ban on diesel exports through year-end.