Nidhi Verma, Reuters

NEW DELHI
EnergiesNet.com 07 24 2024

India’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), opens new tab has received approval from the United States to resume importing oil from Venezuela despite Washington’s sanctions, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The United States in April re-imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector in response to President Nicolas Maduro’s failure to meet his election commitments, but said some firms would be authorised to trade and operate in Venezuela.

The U.S. Treasury Department and Reliance did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

Before U.S. oil sanctions were first imposed on Venezuela in 2019, Reliance was the second-largest individual buyer of Venezuelan crude after China’s CNPC (CNPET.UL).

Reliance had re-submitted a request to the U.S. in May for authorisation to import crude oil from Venezuela, after the U.S. Treasury Department refused to grant licences to Indian refiners including Reliance following the easing of sanctions in October.

Indian refiners, however, resumed Venezuelan oil purchases through intermediaries, until the sanctions kicked in again in June.

India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.NS), opens new tab has also sought a waiver from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control to lift crude oil from Venezuela, an industry source said.

Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Writing by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Jacqueline Wong

reuters.com 07 23 2024