The government continues to be engaged in diplomatic efforts to facilitate safe passage to India-flagged vessels stuck in the Persian Gulf, even as one energy tanker arrived in India from West Asia on Monday, with two others expected to arrive on Tuesday. Currently, there are 22 India-flagged vessels with 611 Indian seafarers in the Persian Gulf; a majority of these vessels are oil and gas tankers, and efforts to ensure that they transit safely are underway, according to the government. In addition to these 22 vessels, more ships that are foreign-flagged but India-bound are also likely stuck in the region. But government sources said that the priority is to first get the India-flagged ships out of the warzone.
On US President Donald Trump’s call for countries to deploy warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, the government said that it has so far not engaged in bilateral discussions with the US on the issue. “We are aware of this particular matter being discussed by several countries. We have not yet discussed it in a bilateral setting,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters.
In response to a question on whether India provided anything to Iran in exchange for the safe passage of the few Indian vessels that have crossed the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, Jaiswal responded in the negative. “I think it has been very elaborately spoken on by the External Affairs Minister and I would like to bring your attention to what he said. There is a history of engagement of dealing with each other between India and Iran. That has been the basis of our engagement and it is not an exchange issue,” he said.
Shipping Corporation of India’s (SCI) LPG tanker Shivalik—with over 46,000 tonnes of LPG, or about half a day’s of India’s usual LPG demand—arrived at the Mundra port in Gujarat on Monday; it had crossed the fraught waters of the Strait of Hormuz on Friday night. On Tuesday, another one of SCI’s LPG tankers—Nanda Devi—and Great Eastern Shipping Company’s crude oil tanker Jag Laadki are expected to arrive at Kandla and Mundra ports, respectively, Shipping Ministry Special Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said. According to Sinha, advance paper work and priority discharge was arranged for Shivalik.
Nanda Devi had crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday morning; it is also loaded with over 46,000 tonnes of LPG. Jag Laadki did not have to cross the Strait—which connects the Persian Gulf on the west and the Gulf of Oman on the east—as it was at the UAE’s Fujairah port on the Gulf of Oman side. The tanker was loading oil at Fujairah, when the oil terminal there came under attack on Saturday; the tanker as well as its crew are safe, according to the government. The tanker departed for India with 80,800 tonnes of crude oil on Sunday morning. In addition to Shivalik, Nanda Devi, and Jag Laadki, another Indian vessel was also able to exit the conflict zone in recent days. Fuel tanker Jag Prakash—also owned and operated by Great Eastern Shipping—had departed with gasoline, or petrol, from Sohar in Oman for Tanzania’s Tanga. Sohar, like Fujairah, is to the south-east of the Strait of Hormuz, and the tanker did not have to cross the Strait. A couple of foreign-flagged oil tankers also made their way to India last week after crossing the Strait of Hormuz
India has stepped up diplomatic efforts to get a safe passage of its vessels stuck in the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday; Modi mentioned “unhindered transit of goods and energy” as one of India’s top priorities. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has also had multiple conversations with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi over the past few days, and energy shipments to India from West Asia have featured in those conversations. According to Jaiswal, the government continues to be in constant contact with all relevant governments at various political and diplomatic levels and is making efforts to ensure that Indian vessels can achieve safe and unhindered transit to maintain the country’s energy security.
Majority of the Indian vessels that are waiting to cross the Strait of Hormuz to get to India are oil and gas tankers. According to data provided by the Shipping Ministry, there are six LPG tankers, four crude oil tankers, one LNG carrier, and one chemical or petroleum products tanker among the 22 Indian vessels currently in the Persian Gulf. All of these are loaded with energy cargoes. The remaining Indian vessels include three container ships, two bulk carriers, one dredger, and one empty vessel; three other vessels are on dry docks for routine maintenance.
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India is heavily dependent on West Asia for its energy imports, with a huge chunk of those supplies coming through the Strait of hormuz. Around 2.5–2.7 million bpd of India’s crude imports—accounting for around half of the country’s total oil imports—have transited the Strait in recent months; the longer-term average is around 40%. This oil is mainly from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait; India doesn’t buy Iranian oil due to American sanctions on Tehran. India’s dependence on the Strait for LNG and LPG supplies is greater than for crude. Roughly 60% of India’s LNG imports come through the Strait of Hormuz; the figure is a staggering 90% in the case of LPG.
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