The crude oil market is adapting quickly to the new sanctions against Russia's shadow fleet of tankers, albeit by creating both short- and medium-term winners and losers.

The rush to buy replacement cargoes for sanctioned Russian oil has pushed Middle Eastern crude prices to an unusual premium to the global benchmark.

Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, is facing a potential drop in its Russian oil imports this fiscal year ending March 31, following the latest U.S. sanctions on Moscow, according to its head of finance,

Russia is sending cargoes of sanctioned oil to India on tankers that have been blacklisted by the US Treasury — setting up an acid test of Moscow's ability to get around aggressive measures imposed by Washington earlier this month.

Trade for March-loading Russian oil in top buyer Asia has stalled as a wide price gap between buyers and sellers emerged in China after costs for chartering tankers unaffected by U.S. sanctions jumped,

The United States has clarified to India that tankers loaded with Russian oil have to discharge by Feb. 27 under the latest sanctions targeting Moscow's oil revenue, India's oil secretary Pankaj Jain told reporters at an event.

Millions of barrels of oil that would normally be preserve of oil refineries in Europe are instead heading to Asia as US sanctions on Russia revive one of the market’s great arbitrage trades.

Russia has continued to send cargoes of crude oil to India on tankers that have been sanctioned by the US, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. This situation presents a crucial test of Moscow’s ability to circumvent the stringent sanctions implemented by Washington earlier this month.

Six Russian oil tankers still under construction by Russia's Zvezda shipyard were included in U.S. sanctions imposed last week, the first time Washington is known to have banned tankers before they even set sail,