Microsoft Cuts Off Cloud Services to Nayara Energy

Microsoft has cut off cloud computing services to India's Nayara Energy, following EU sanctions on the oil refinery company. Nayara revealed it had initiated legal proceedings against Microsoft after the "abrupt and unilateral suspension of critical services," with Nayara claiming that Microsoft has restricted the company's access to its own "data, proprietary tools, and products" despite all licenses being fully paid for.

"While the sanctions originate exclusively from the EU, Microsoft - a US-headquartered corporation - has chosen to withdraw services from Nayara Energy without any legal requirement to do so under US or Indian law. This action has been taken unilaterally, without prior notice, consultation, or recourse, and under the guise of compliance. Such moves signal a worrying trend of global corporations extending foreign legal frameworks into jurisdictions where they have no applicability," the company wrote.

The EU sanctions were revealed on July 18 and target Russia and its energy sector. With Nayara being majority owned by Russia's Rosneft, the company is a big buyer of Russian oil. The sanctions include a price cap on Russian oil, and the EU will no longer import any petroleum products made from Russian crude except imports from Norway, Britain, the US, Canada, and Switzerland.