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By Nidhi Verma
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Russia-backed Indian refiner Nayara Energy has named a new chief executive after its previous CEO resigned following European Union sanctions that targeted the company, four sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
The reshuffle at the top is the latest disruption for the company since the EU announced a new round of sanctions last Friday directed at Russia over its war in Ukraine.
This week, a tanker carrying Russian Urals crude was diverted away from Nayara’s Vadinar port to unload its cargo at another port in western India, Reuters reported. That came after two other tankers skipped loading refined products from Vadinar, Reuters reported.
Mumbai-based Nayara has appointed company veteran Sergey Denisov as chief executive to replace Alessandro des Dorides, the sources said. Denisov’s appointment was decided at a board meeting on Wednesday, they said.
Nayara Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Des Dorides, who joined Nayara Energy in April 2024, for a three-year term, did not immediately respond to a message sent on LinkedIn.
In its announcement of his appointment last year, Nayara described Des Dorides as a 24-year veteran of the energy industry. He left Italian major Eni in 2019 after about six months as head of oil trading and operations.
Denisov has been with Nayara since 2017. His LinkedIn profile describes him as Nayara’s chief development officer.
In recent days, Nayara’s website has no longer carried pages listing its leadership.
The company is one of India’s two major private-sector refiners, along with the larger Reliance Industries. The pair have been India’s biggest buyers of discounted Russian crude.
Nayara, which operates India’s third-biggest refinery at Vadinar in western Gujarat state, typically exports at least four million barrels of refined products per month, including diesel, jet fuel, gasoline and naphtha. It also operates more than 6,000 fuel stations.
The 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) Vadinar refinery is equivalent to nearly 8% of India’s total refining capacity of about 5.2 million bpd.
Nayara Energy has criticised the EU’s “unjust and unilateral” decision to impose sanctions.
Russia’s 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, according to a 2024 note by India’s CARE Ratings agency.
India, which has become the top importer of seaborne Russian oil in the aftermath of Moscow’s Ukraine invasion, has also criticised the EU’s sanctions.
Rosneft, which said the sanctions on Nayara were unjustified and illegal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma. Additional reporting by Mohi Narayan and Vladimir Soldatkin. Editing by Tony Munroe, Elaine Hardcastle and Louise Heavens)
