In a significant development, Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s largest privately held oil refiner, has obtained US approval to resume importing oil from Venezuela amid White House sanctions against the country.
Notably, when President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition inked a deal to ensure free and fair elections last year, the United States temporarily lifted sanctions on the South American country’s gold and oil sectors. In April this year, the United States reimposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector in reaction to President Nicolas Maduro’s alleged failure to achieve electoral commitments. The US, however, said that certain companies would be allowed to operate in Venezuela.
Before the United States placed oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, Reliance was the second-largest private buyer of Venezuelan crude oil, trailing only China’s China National Petroleum Corporation. Reliance had resubmitted a request to the United States in May for permission to import crude oil from Venezuela after the US Treasury declined to provide licenses to Indian refiners, including Reliance, following the lifting of sanctions in October.
The Indian refiners, however, continued purchasing Venezuelan oil through intermediaries until the sanctions were reimposed in June. India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has also requested a dispensation from the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control to import crude oil from Venezuela.
