Indian company Reliance Industries Ltd. has resumed purchases of discounted Russian crude oil from non-sanctioned suppliers and is directing it to its refinery (NPR) in Jamnagar. This is reported by Bloomberg with reference to its own informed sources, writes UNN.
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According to the publication's interlocutors, India's largest refinery, located in the state of Gujarat, chartered Aframax class tankers from RusExport to receive Russian oil.
Restrictions imposed by Washington against two leading Moscow producers forced Indian refineries to turn to exports from Russian companies not subject to sanctions, as well as to more expensive alternatives from other countries.
Reliance, which owns and operates the world's largest refining complex in Jamnagar, Gujarat, was given an additional month to accept vessels for which it had signed contracts before October 22, but the last cargo under that arrangement arrived in India on December 17, the sources said.
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It is noted that in Jamnagar, in addition to a 600,000 barrels per day unit that supplies petroleum products to the domestic market, Reliance also operates a 700,000 barrels per day unit there, which is export-oriented.
The export-oriented part of the refinery last received a batch of Russian crude oil on November 20, since then all Russian imports have gone to its refinery focused on domestic sales.
Indian officials this month estimated that oil imports from Russia would fall to about 800,000 barrels per day from an average of 1.9 million barrels per day in November as refineries stop accepting crude oil.