India’s largest buyer of Russian oil has switched to purchases from Venezuela
7 February 18:12
India’s Reliance Industries Ltd, operator of the world’s largest oil refinery complex, has begun purchasing oil from Venezuela.
This was reported by Bloomberg, citing its own sources, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
The oil refining conglomerate has acquired a supertanker carrying about 2 million barrels of Venezuelan oil.
The Indian company has purchased a batch of Venezuelan crude for the first time since mid-2025, and this is the first purchase of Venezuelan oil by an Indian buyer since the US captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
After the start of the war in Ukraine, Reliance Industries became the largest Indian importer of Russian oil, providing approximately half of the barrels purchased from Russia as of the end of 2025, according to The Moscow Times.
In December 2024, the Indian company signed a 25-year contract with Russia’s Rosneft to supply up to 500,000 barrels of oil per day. However, after the US imposed sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft at the end of October last year, Reliance announced that it would no longer purchase Russian raw materials.
