Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department assessed the implications for the UK's sanctions policy of importing jet fuel from the Jamnagar refinery in India; and what assessment has he made of the UK's need for that fuel shipment; what consideration was given to alternative non-Russian-linked sources of supply; and on what basis any licence or authorisation relating to that shipment was approved.

On 20 May 2026, the UK introduced a new sanctions package to further target Russian revenues and degrade its ability to wage its illegal war in Ukraine and for the first time processed oil products refined from Russian crude in third countries have been banned. The UK Government published an Impact Assessment alongside the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) Regulations 2026, available on legislation.gov.uk.

Alongside this, a general trade licence, including for jet fuel processed in third countries from Russian crude, was issued to support a managed and phased implementation of complex restrictions, and to provide targeted, temporary flexibility to safeguard UK energy supply and global market stability.

The Government will continue to review the licence every two weeks. This involves continually assessing its impact on energy supply, market conditions and other relevant considerations, against our objective to revoke the licence as soon as is practicable. As part of this process, we have since set an end date of 1 January 2027.

The Secretary of State will consider each application for a trade licence on a case-by-case basis, with key consideration given to whether the proposed activity is consistent with the purposes of the sanctions as specified in Regulation 4 of the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The Secretary of State must act within the statutory framework Parliament has approved, the licensing power is exercised in a targeted and proportionate way.