Ship carrying Iranian oil shifts course midway from India to China

A US-certified tanker carrying Iranian crude oil was rerouted midway through its journey from its previously stated destination of India (which would mark the first such shipment in nearly seven years) to China.

According to ship tracking firm Kpler, the Aframax tanker Ping Shun, built in 2002 and approved by the US in 2025, is now pointing to Dongying in China instead of Vadinar in Gujarat, which it had indicated earlier this week.

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There is no confirmation that the destination indicated by the ship’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder (a tracking system mandatory on most commercial ships) is the final destination and may not change at any time during transit.

“The Iranian crude ship ‘Ping Shun’, which was en route to Vadinar, India in the last three days, left India as its declared destination and is currently signaling to China,” said Sumit Ritolia, Principal Research Analyst for Refining and Modeling at commodity market analysis firm Kpler.

Ping Shun oil would be the first Iranian crude that India will purchase since 2019. Indian refiners are looking for opportunities to purchase several cargoes of Iranian water oil after Washington waived recent sanctions.

The shift in Pin Shun’s destination appears to be payment related, with sellers tightening terms and moving away from the previous 30-60 day credit window towards cash or near-term payment, according to Mr. Ritolia.

It was not clear who the actual seller and buyer of crude oil was.

Vadinar hosts the 20-million-ton-a-year oil refinery of Russian oil giant Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy.

“While such mid-trip destination changes are not unprecedented for Iranian crudes, they highlight the increasing sensitivity of trade flows to financial conditions and counterparty risk,” he said.

“If payment issues are resolved, the cargo could still go to a refinery in India. But the incident underscores that trade conditions have become as critical as logistics in determining Iranian crude oil flows to other countries outside China.” India’s oil ministry has so far maintained that techno-commercial feasibility will guide its decision to continue buying Iranian crude.

Historically, India was a major buyer of Iranian crude oil and imported significant quantities of light and heavy grades from Iran due to strong refinery compatibility and favorable trade conditions.

Following the tightening of sanctions in 2018, imports were stopped from May 2019 and volumes were replaced by West Asian, US and other grades. At its peak, Iranian crude oil accounted for 11.5% of India’s total imports.

India was buying 518,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day in 2018; This fell to 268,000 barrels per day between January and May 2019, when the US granted exemptions to a few buyers. There have been no imports since that date.

The main grades purchased by Indian refiners are Iranian light and Iranian heavy crude oils.

The United States last month waived sanctions on offshore purchases of Iranian oil for 30 days in its latest attempt to ease rising oil prices due to the US-Israeli war against Iran.

This period ends on April 19. An estimated 95 million barrels of Iranian oil are in ships at sea, of which about 51 million barrels can be sold to India, while the rest is more available to buyers in China and Southeast Asia.

The Ping Shun is estimated to be carrying approximately 600,000 barrels of oil, loaded from Kharg Island around March 4. According to Kpler, the declared ETA to Vadinar was April 4.

While the US waiver allows countries to purchase these barrels, it is unclear how the payments will be made.

Iran remains disconnected from SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications), a global messaging network used by banks and financial institutions to securely send and receive information about financial transactions.

Recent purchases from Iran were made in Euros using a Turkish bank as an intermediary, but this option is no longer available.

Following sanctions imposed by the European Union over its nuclear program, Iran was removed from the SWIFT system in March 2012; This move resulted in the disconnection of numerous Iranian banks and severely restricted global financial transactions.

Further disruptions occurred after the US reimposed sanctions in 2018, which led to many Iranian banks being suspended from the network again; this has significantly restricted Tehran’s ability to conduct international trade, receive oil payments, and access foreign exchange reserves.

It was published – 03 April 2026 13:10 IST