US says India hid Russian origin of fuel shipped to US

New Delhi, Aug 13: The US expressed concern that an Indian company hid the origin of Russian oil, processed it and shipped some products to New York, according to Michael Patra, deputy governor in charge of monetary policy at the Reserve Bank of India.

India has been informed about the development by the US Treasury Department, he said at an event Saturday in Bhubaneswar in Odisha, Reuters reported.

"The refined output was put back on that ship and it set sail without a destination. In the mid-seas it received the destination so it reached at its course, went to New York," the news agency quoted Patra said as saying at the event to celebrate 75 years of India's independence.

However, the US embassy in New Delhi said it had no immediate comment.

The Russian crude was processed and converted into a distillate used for making single-use plastic, he said. "So that's the way war works. It works in strange ways," he said

India's crude oil imports from Russia have jumped over 50 times since April and now make up for 10 per cent of all crude bought from overseas, a senior government official said on Thursday. Russian oil made up for just 0.2 per cent of all oil imported by India prior to the Ukraine war, news agency PTI reported earlier.

India has taken advantage of discounted prices to ramp up oil imports from Russia at a time when global energy prices have been rising. After the US and China, India is the world's third-largest consumer of oil, over 85 per cent of which is imported.