Indian Refiners Pivot From Russian to Venezuelan Crude

Reliance Industries has bought its first cargo of Venezuelan crude since 2023 from Chevron, Reuters has reported, citing shipping data, amid growing appetite from Indian refiners for non-Russian oil supply.

That appetite was prompted by U.S. pressure on the Indian government to reduce its imports of Russian crude—or face higher tariffs. Reliance Industries, India’s largest refiner, received a license to buy and sell Venezuelan crude from the United States federal government earlier this month. Reliance was the biggest single buyer of Russian crude oi in India before the latest U.S. sanctions, which specifically targeted its biggest supplier, Rosneft.

According to the data, Reliance bought a cargo of Boscan crude, currently en route to its destination on the Ottoman Sincerity Suezmax tanker. This is the first cargo of Boscan to be sold in six years as well, the report noted. Reliance had also snapped another cargo of 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude from Vitol, to be delivered next month. The Indian company was also looking for direct deals with Venezuela’s PDVSA, unnamed sources told Reuters.

At least three Very Large Crude Carriers are scheduled to load at Venezuela’s Jose port next month, the Reuters sources said. The tankers were chartered by Vitol and Trafigura – the commodity majors that were granted a license to deal in Venezuelan oil.

Earlier this month, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that oil sales from Venezuela, under the control of the United States for over a month now, are set to bring $5 billion over the next few months.

“Sales today are over a billion dollars, and in fact, we have sort of short-term agreements over the next few months that will bring in another $5 billion,” Secretary Wright said in the interview during a historic visit to Venezuela to meet with the interim President Delcy Rodríguez.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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