India's January Russian oil imports may fall sharply as Reliance expects no deliveries

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Reliance Industries RELI.NS said on Tuesday it is not expecting any Russian crude oil deliveries in January, a move that could sharply cut India's Russian oil imports during the month to the lowest in years.

The statement by Reliance, operator of the world's largest refining complex and the biggest Indian buyer of Russian crude last year, came after U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday warned that the U.S. could further raise import tariffs on India over its Russian oil purchases.

"Reliance Industries’s Jamnagar refinery has not received any cargo of Russian oil at its refinery in the past three weeks approx. and is not expecting any Russian crude oil deliveries in January," it said in a statement posted on X.

The statement denied a media report from last week that said three vessels laden with Russian oil were heading toward Reliance's Jamnagar refinery.

India emerged as the biggest buyer of discounted Russian seaborne crude following the start of the Ukraine war in 2022. The purchases have fuelled a backlash from Western nations, which have targeted Russia's energy sector with sanctions, arguing that oil revenues help fund Moscow's war effort.

The U.S. doubled import tariffs on Indian goods to 50% last year as punishment for its heavy purchasing of Russian oil. The two countries are currently negotiating a potential trade deal in talks that have been fraught at times.

Indian authorities asked refiners for weekly disclosures of Russian and U.S. oil purchases, people familiar with the matter said, Reuters reported last week.

The people said India's imports of Russian crude are likely to dip below 1 million barrels per day as New Delhi seeks to clinch a trade deal with Washington.

Stricter U.S. and EU sanctions have slowed Russian oil flows to India, which fell to a three-year low of about 1.2 million bpd in December, according to sources and analytics firm Kpler. That marks a roughly 40% drop from a June peak of around 2 million bpd.

With Reliance halting buying, deliveries of Russian oil to India in January are likely to be limited to Russia-backed Nayara Energy and state-run refiners Indian Oil Corp IOC.NS and Bharat Petroleum Corp BPCL.NS, according to preliminary data from LSEG.

IOC, BPCL and Nayara did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Nayara Energy, which operates a 400,000-bpd refinery, is likely to be the main Indian buyer of Russian crude as its supplies are otherwise constrained by EU sanctions after other suppliers backed out, government sources have told Reuters.