India Halts Russian LNG Imports Under Sanctions, Ongoing Talks on Permitted Shipments: Sources

India Rejects Russian LNG Offer Amid U.S. Sanctions

India has declined Russia's offer to sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) subject to U.S. sanctions, despite a shortfall driven by Middle East tensions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. This decision has left a tanker bound for India in limbo as talks continue on permitted cargoes.

The stance highlights the fine balance the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer is seeking to strike between securing energy supplies and avoiding LNG cargoes on which the U.S. has placed sanctions, which are harder to disguise and carry greater compliance risk. This also underscores the limits of Moscow's ability to pivot its LNG exports to new markets.

India's reluctance has left an LNG cargo from Russia's U.S.-sanctioned Portovaya plant in the Baltic Sea unable to discharge, despite indicating India as its destination in mid-April. The vessel, Kunpeng, a 138,200-cubic-metre tanker, was tracked despite documentation suggesting the cargo was non-Russian. The tanker is now near Singaporean waters with no destination broadcast, according to LSEG.

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India, the biggest buyer of Russian seaborne crude, conveyed its decision not to buy LNG that was under sanction to Russia's Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin during his April 30 visit. Sorokin met Indian officials, including Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, and could return in June for further talks.

India's Oil and Gas Ministry and Russia's embassy in Delhi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

India's purchases of Russian crude have continued unabated, aided by a temporary waiver of U.S. sanctions introduced to help countries cope with an energy crisis resulting from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28. Russia's other export plant subject to U.S. sanctions is Arctic LNG 2, for which Washington stepped up sanctions in early 2025 over Russia's war on Ukraine.

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While crude oil cargoes can be hidden through ship-to-ship transfers at sea, LNG shipments are far harder to conceal from satellite tracking. India is open to buying authorized Russian LNG, but most of those volumes are committed to Europe. Moscow is also seeking long-term deals to supply India with LNG and fertilisers such as potash, phosphorus, and urea.

Before the Iran conflict disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, India was meeting half of its gas consumption through imports, about 60% of which had come through the waterway. More than half of its crude supplies came the same way.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged people to conserve fuel and foreign exchange by working from home, limiting foreign travel, and reducing imports of gold and edible oil.