By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy on Monday condemned the European Union’s sanctions on it and said it was exploring legal options against the latest “restrictive measures”.
On Friday, the EU approved its 18th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, which includes sanctions on Nayara Energy, a refinery backed by Russian oil major Rosneft.
“Nayara Energy strongly condemns the European Union’s unjust and unilateral decision to impose restrictive measures on our company,” it said in a statement.
Rosneft holds a 49.13% stake in Nayara and a similar stake is owned by a consortium, Kesani Enterprises Co Ltd, led by Italy’s Mareterra Group and Russian investment group United Capital Partners.
“We are actively exploring all legal and appropriate avenues to address this situation and to protect the interests of our operations, employees, and our stakeholders,” Nayara said, asserting that the latest EU sanctions had “no legal basis”.
The company, which operates a 400,000 barrels per day refinery in western India, has lined up more than 700 billion rupees ($8.1 billion) of investment for projects including petrochemicals and the expansion of its fuel retail stations.
“We categorically state that this unilateral move by the European Union is founded on baseless assertions, representing an undue extension of authority that ignores both international law and the sovereignty of India,” it said.
India has said it does not support “unilateral sanctions” by the EU.
($1 = 86.2980 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Nidhi VermaEditing by Mark Potter)
