India’s Reliance Industries has officially stopped importing Russian crude into its giant Jamnagar refining complex as of November 20—a sharp and early pivot that signals just how seriously Indian refiners are taking Washington’s latest sanctions squeeze on Rosneft and Lukoil.
Reliance had the most to lose. For two years, it was India’s single largest buyer of Russian oil, backed by a long-term deal for nearly 500,000 bpd with Rosneft. Now, that relationship is effectively mothballed, at least for Jamnagar, as the company races to stay inside the lines of U.S. and EU product-import restrictions that get significantly tighter starting January 21. Europe takes 28% of Reliance’s exports; losing that market would make even a refinery as sophisticated as Jamnagar feel the pinch.
The company says that all product shipped from December 1 onward will be made exclusively from non-Russian crude. That transition finished ahead of schedule—likely because the U.S. wind-down window ends November 21, and none of the Indian majors were interested in testing OFAC’s appetite for penalties. The last Russian cargo was loaded November 12; anything arriving after November 20 will be diverted to the Domestic Tariff Area and kept away from export-linked processing.
This shift didn’t come out of nowhere. Days ago, Reliance snapped up 1 million barrels of Kuwaiti crude after Kuwait Petroleum unexpectedly put volumes on the spot market. Reliance has also been hoovering up Middle Eastern grades ever since sanctions talk intensified—another tell that a pivot was coming. Once Washington put Rosneft and Lukoil in the crosshairs, it was only a matter of time before Jamnagar rebalanced its slate.
For India’s largest private refiner, the calculus is simple: protect access to global banking, keep exports flowing into Europe, and let someone else gamble on discounted barrels that now come with a legal tripwire. The Russian barrels will keep moving somewhere — just not through Reliance’s pipes.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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