Last year, Reliance Industries signed a deal with Russian giant Rosneft to import nearly 500,000 barrels a day.
Published October 24, 2025
Conglomerate Reliance Industries, India’s largest importer of Russian oil, said it would comply with Western sanctions, ending days of speculation about how the company would manage new measures targeting two of Russia’s biggest oil companies.
Reliance will continue to maintain relationships with suppliers and “adjust refinery operations to meet compliance requirements,” a company spokesperson said in a statement Friday.
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“As always, we will fully comply with any guidance from the Government of India in this regard,” the statement added.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday designated Russian giants Rosneft and Lukoil for the first time, as President Donald Trump grows increasingly frustrated with Russia’s constant war against Ukraine.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the move was the result of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “refusal to end this senseless war” and urged allies to comply with the new sanctions.
The next day, the European Union adopted its 19th anti-Russia package, which included a complete ban on Rosneft. The EU had previously announced that from January 21 it would no longer accept fuel imports from refineries that had received or processed Russian crude 60 days before shipment.
Reliance, chaired by billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani, operates the world’s largest refining complex in western Gujarat. The Indian news agency Press Trust reported this week that the company has bought about half of the 1.7 million to 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of discounted Russian crude oil destined for India.
Reliance signed a 10-year deal with Rosneft to buy nearly 500,000 barrels a day in 2024, Reuters reported at the time. It also buys Russian crude oil from intermediaries.
Reliance did not provide details on how exactly it plans to overcome sanctions or the fate of the 2024 Rosneft deal, but stressed it would comply with European import requirements.
“Reliance is confident that its proven and diversified crude oil sourcing strategy will continue to ensure the stability and reliability of its refinery operations to meet domestic and export requirements, including to Europe,” a company spokesperson said.
The sanctions were introduced as India weathers the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on Indian exports, which were increased to 50% starting in August as a fine for Russian oil imports. China and India are the world’s largest importers of Russian crude oil.
President Trump repeatedly claimed last month that India had agreed to stop buying Russian oil as part of a broader trade deal, but the Indian government has not confirmed this claim.
Neither the Indian Ministry of External Affairs nor the Ministry of Petroleum has responded since the sanctions were announced on Wednesday.
