New Delhi: Reliance Industries said that it has stopped importing Russian oil into its export-oriented refinery, suggesting compliance with US and EU measures against trade in Russian oil and derived products.
The announcement comes as the sanction issued by Washington against Russian oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil are to come into effect on Friday.
Back when announcing the sanction on October 22, the US administration threatened sanctions against foreign firms ‘engaging in certain transactions involving’ the entities.
A spokesperson for Reliance on Thursday made it clear that ‘Any cargoes arriving on or after November 20 will be received and processed at our refinery in the Domestic Tariff Area. All operational activities ordinarily incident to such oil supply transactions can be completed, we believe, in a compliant way.’
The Donald Trump administration earlier singled out India slapping 25% to 50% tariff on Indian goods for importing Russian oil of which Reliance had been the single-largest consumer.
President Trump claimed that Russia was using revenue from oil sale to fight its war in Ukraine.
Reliance reportedly announced having stopped importing Russian oil into its export-oriented refinery from Thursday onwards, referring to the EU’s sanctions against Russia pointing to ‘product-import restrictions coming into force on January 21 2026’.
‘From December 1, all product exports from the SEZ refinery will be obtained from non-Russian crude oil. This transition has been completed ahead of schedule to ensure full compliance with product-import restrictions coming into force on January 21, 2026,’ Reliance’s spokesperson reportedly said.
The EU will allow the petroleum products shipping to Europe that ‘come from the production line using non-Russian oil’, meaning refineries that can segregate and separately process Russian oil.
A large share of the Russian oil imported in India is processed and thus exported to Europe as diesel and jet fuel with Reliance’s Jamnagar refinery alone exporting 17 billion euros worth of refined fuels to the EU between February 2023 and July 2025.