Middlemen supplying Russian oil are not offering cargoes due to new U.S. sanctions targeting Russian producers, tankers and insurers, according to the finance chief at Indian refiner Bharat Petroleum .

Indian banks has begun blocking payments for Russian oil imports following the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Russia's oil industry, according to a report from Energy Intelligence, an energy information company.

The Biden administration has imposed some of its toughest sanctions yet on Russia, in a move designed to hit Moscow's energy revenue that is fuelling its war in Ukraine. The measures target more than 200 entities and individuals ranging from traders and officials to insurance companies, as well as hundreds of oil tankers.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that the U.S. move “represents an attempt to inflict damage on the Russian economy at any cost, even at the risk of destabilising global markets.

The US took its strongest actions yet to slash Russian oil and gas revenues by sanctioning two oil companies, about 180 oil-carrying vessels, dozens of traders, insurance

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, India became a major buyer of Russian crude oil that was widely sanctioned by the West. That may be about to change.

A fresh wave of U.S. sanctions against Russia’s oil industry threatened to disrupt global supplies, sending crude prices to their highest in more than four months.

The US is to enact a sweeping set of new sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, including restrictions on two major Russian oil producers and an alleged “shadow fleet” of tankers, the Biden administration announced on Friday.

Crude oil purchases by Indian Oil Corp. may shift as the new US sanctions on Russia affect supplies from Moscow, pushing the South Asian country’s biggest refiner to seek alternatives.