The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: A mysterious Mumbai company registered as an exporter only on March 31 this year, has grown into a giant of international oil shipping in the last 18 months, Financial Times has reported.
The company, Gatik Ship Management, has purchased more oil tankers than any other company since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.
The reports says that Gatik owned “just two chemical tankers in 2021” but by last month, it had 58 vessels, worth $1.6 billion.
There is little by way of records on the company, which is yet to appear on India’s official corporate registry.
“One important clue is that Gatik shares an address in the dreary shopping mall with Mumbai-registered company Buena Vista Shipping, another little-known operation that two years ago reported a little over $100,000 worth of assets,” the report says, observing that who owns either the mall or funded Gatik is mired in mystery.
Gatik’s role, however, has benefited the Russian oil giant Rosneft, from whom it has transported more than half of the 83mn barrels of Russian crude and oil products it has brought to Indian ports.
An expert told FT that the company is almost exclusively servicing Russian flows and thus could be an ultimate example of Russian oil companies who would want to get into shipping to evade western sanctions since the Ukraine war.
The Indian government has been vehemently defending its trade with Russia despite US warnings, saying it has to source oil from where it is cheapest.
A January report by Wall Street Journal had noted, “That parallel fleet is helping Moscow get crude to buyers in Asia.”
FT further said that by early April, none of Gatik’s ships had insurance from any of the recognised large mutual providers. Its vessels are aging and had earlier transported crude oil from around the world, but are now focusing solely on Russian oil.
A recent report had found that India is leading the group of ‘laundromat countries’ that buy discounted crude oil from Russia, refine it, and sell the processed products to European countries, thus sidestepping European sanctions against Russia.