US sanctions on Russian firms to hit Reliance; PSUs may keep buying Russian oil via traders

US sanctions against two of Russia’ largest oil companies are expected to impact Reliance Industries’ crude imports from Russia, while state-run refiners may continue purchases through intermediary traders for now.

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Industry sources said public-sector units are assessing compliance risks but are unlikely to halt Russian crude flows immediately as they buy almost all of their needs from traders, mostly European (who are out of the sanctions net).

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd - India’s largest buyer of Russian crude, accounting for roughly half of the country’s 1.7 million barrels per day of imports from Moscow - may however have to recalibrate its imports as it buys crude oil directly from Russia's Rosneft, they said.

Reliance had in December 2024 signed a term deal with Russian Rosneft - now sanctioned - to import as much as 500,000 barrels per day of Russian oil for 25 years. It also buys oil from intermediaries. The company did not immediately respond to an email sent for comments.

‘The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed further sanctions on Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft) and Lukoil OAO (Lukoil) - Russia's two largest oil companies that the Trump administration accuses of helping fund the Kremlin’s “war machine’ in Ukraine.