India’s Reliance Industries Ltd, a regular buyer of Venezuelan crude oil, is assessing the impact of US sanctions imposed on Rosneft Trading SA, a subsidiary of Russian state oil firm Rosneft. The company said that it would comply with US policies regarding the Venezuelan oil industry.
Fellow Indian refiner Nayara, which is partly owned Rosneft, also said that would commit to complying with the applicable US sanctions following the recent announcements. Nayara and Reliance are long time buyers of crude oil produced by Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA.
Tanker tracking data showed that Reliance imported about 230,000 bpd of Venezuelan crude in 2019, declining 15% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, imports by Nayara surged by 55% to about 107,500 bpd in the same year.
PDVSA supplies Rosneft with crude oil as debt repayment. Rosneft then distributes the barrels to refineries that used to purchase directly from PDVSA before US sanctions. Washington blacklisted Rosneft Trading on Tuesday, saying Rosneft’s unit had concealed shipments of Venezuelan crude by “tricks” to evade the US sanctions.
