Reliance faces crude reality as US sanctions hit Russian oil giants

New Delhi: US sanctions against two of Russia’s largest oil companies are expected to impact Reliance In-dustries’ (RIL) crude imports from Russia, while state-run refiners may continue purchases through intermediary traders for now.

Industry sources said public-sector units are assessing compliance risks, but are unlikely to halt Russian crude flows immediately as they buy almost all of their needs from traders, mostly Euro-pean (who are out of the sanctions net). Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd – India’s largest buyer of Russian crude, accounting for roughly half of the country’s 1.7 million barrels per day of imports from Moscow - may however have to recalibrate its imports as it buys crude oil directly from Russia’s Rosneft, they said.