By Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON, March 25 (Reuters) - More than 250,000 barrels

per day of U.S. crude is set to arrive in India next month, the

highest in more than a year, ship tracking data showed, amid

tighter enforcement of sanctions on Russian crude.

India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer,

is looking to diversify its oil supplies as fresh U.S. sanctions

on Moscow threaten to dent Russian oil sales to India, the

biggest buyer of Russian seaborne crude.

About 7.6 million barrels of oil, or 256,000 barrels per day

(bpd), were headed to India on three very large crude carriers

and three Suezmax vessels, according to ship tracking firm

Kpler.

The ships, which were largely headed to India's west coast,

were chartered by Reliance Industries, Vitol

, Equinor ( EQNR ) and Sinokor, among

others, according to data from financial firm LSEG.

India was the top buyer of Russian oil last year after other

groups retreated from purchases following Western sanctions on

Moscow for its invasion on Ukraine in February 2022.

Last month, the U.S. tightened efforts to reduce Russia's

oil trade adding sanctions on state-owned shipping firm

Sovcomflot and 14 crude oil tankers involved in Russian oil

transportation.

India's Reliance, operator of the world's biggest refining

complex, will not buy Russian oil loaded on tankers operated by

Sovcomflot after recent U.S. sanctions, sources told Reuters

last week.

More Indian refiners plan to shun Sovcomflot vessels, which

may weigh on imports of Russian oil and leave Russia with fewer

outlets for its flagship product, sources said.