Disruptions at the Hormuz Strait due to the ongoing war in West Asia have caused oil and gas shortages in several countries. However, India’s Visakhapatnam coast is gradually receiving LPG and oil shipments, offering some relief and indicating that the country’s fuel supply situation may stabilize. On Thursday, the massive vessel BW Breech arrived at Visakhapatnam carrying 24,000 metric tonnes (TMC) of LPG, which is scheduled to be unloaded on Friday.
Additional shipments are expected in the coming days. The Netherlands-loaded vessel Hellas Gladiator and the U.S.-loaded vessel Jupiter are scheduled to arrive at Visakhapatnam on March 30. Earlier, vessels Lupinus (22 TMC) and AI Wukir (26 TMC) from the UAE and Qatar had already reached the port on February 26 and March 3. HPCL-owned vessel MV Summer Shruti is currently unloading 65,000 tonnes of high-speed diesel, while crude oil vessel MV Swarna Sindhu is expected to arrive in the next two days.
From Russia, the vessel Jumbo carrying 1,36,728 tonnes of crude oil is scheduled to arrive on Friday. Further shipments of crude oil from Russia, including vessels Foundey and Desh Gaurav from Mundra Port, are expected on April 2 and 5. Officials confirmed that between March 1 and 25, a total of ten oil shipments arrived at Visakhapatnam from Qatar, the UAE, Russia, and several Indian ports.
In other ports, the vessel Apollo Ocean carrying 40,000 tonnes of LPG reached New Mangalore Port in Karnataka on Thursday, with two more crude oil shipments expected soon. From Russia, a third crude oil vessel carrying 1 lakh tonnes arrived at Chennai Harbor on Thursday, while another vessel is scheduled to reach the port on Saturday, further strengthening India’s fuel supply amid global disruptions.