Reliance Industries
A trade agreement between India and America may happen soon. Continuous talks are going on between the two countries on this issue. Meanwhile, Mukesh Ambani’s company Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has said that it has stopped using Russian crude oil in its export-only refinery located in Jamnagar, Gujarat. The company said that this decision has been taken due to the restrictions of the European Union (EU).
Reliance is the largest buyer of Russian crude oil in India. The company converts this oil into fuels like petrol and diesel in the big oil refinery complex in Jamnagar. This entire complex is made up of two refineries. An SEZ unit, from where fuel is exported to the European Union, America and other countries. The second old unit, which caters to the Indian domestic market.
European Union is a big market for Reliance. The EU has imposed several stringent sanctions to reduce Russia’s energy earnings. These restrictions also include a ban on the sale and export of fuel made from Russian crude oil. For this reason, Reliance has stopped using Russian oil in its export SEZ refinery. The company spokesperson said that the import of Russian crude oil has been stopped at the SEZ refinery from November 20 and from December 1, all the products exported will be made from non-Russian crude oil.
America’s ban on Russian oil companies
This step has come after the announcement that in October, for the first time in his second term, US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia due to actions related to Ukraine. In this, two big oil companies of Russia, Lukoil and Rosneft, were banned. Mukesh Ambani’s RIL has signed a long-term agreement to purchase about 5 lakh barrels per day (500,000 BPD) of crude oil from Rosneft.
Earlier in October, sources had said that after America imposed a ban on Russian oil company Rosneft, Reliance would stop taking oil from Russia under its long-term agreement. Trump’s announcement came after the US had imposed heavy tariffs of up to 50% on some imports from India, a large part of which was imposed as a retaliation against India’s oil purchases from Russia.