by Mohi Narayan
NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries Ltd., operator of the world’s largest refining complex, may refrain from buying Russian fuel for its plants following Western sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior company official said.
“Even if we can source some of the feed [from Russia]Maybe we will be out of it because of restrictions,” Rajesh Rawat, senior vice president and business head Firecracker, told an industry event on March 16.
Reliance buys Ural crude and straight run fuel oil from Russia for its refineries. The private refiner buys most of its petrochemical feedstock from the Middle East and the United States.
Sanctions on Russia have prompted many companies and countries to stay off their oil, disappointing Russian crude to record discount levels.
Mr. Rawat said that most of the oil supplies in India from Russia are going to government companies.
“So maybe, those feed streams will still continue, or there may be less impact than the private sector players. Because we deal with banks, and even if we can, we can source some feeds. [from Russia]Maybe we will be out of it because of sanctions,” Rawat told the Asia Refining and Petrochemical Summit.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, the country’s top refiner Indian Oil Corp has bought 3 million barrels of Russian Ural crude and Hindustan Petroleum has bought 2 million barrels of oil through tenders.