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29-03-2026
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: India’s Reliance Industries has not purchased crude oil of Iranian origin, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
Media earlier this week reported that Reliance has purchased 5 million barrels of Iranian oil after the US granted a temporary waiver. At that time, Reliance had not responded to media emails seeking comments.
“Reliance Industries Limited categorically rejects recent media reports that the company has purchased crude oil of Iranian origin,” it said on Thursday.
On 24th March, India’s Reliance Industries, operator of the world’s biggest refining complex, has purchased 5 million barrels of Iranian crude, days after the US temporarily removed sanctions on the oil, three sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.
The Indian refiner bought the oil from the National Iranian Oil Co., two of the sources said.
One of them said the crude was priced at a premium of about $7 a barrel to ICE Brent futures. It was not immediately clear when the oil would be delivered.
Iranian oil, which in recent years has mainly been bought by Chinese independent refiners, is often rebranded as originating from another country.
Reliance did not respond to emails seeking comment. NIOC could not be reached for comment.
The Trump administration on Friday issued a 30-day sanctions waiver for the purchase of Iranian oil already at sea. The waiver applies to oil loaded on any vessel, including tankers under sanctions, on or before March 20 and discharged by April 19.
The deal marks India’s first purchase of Iranian oil since the world’’ third-biggest oil importer and consumer halted imports from Iran in May 2019, months after Washington re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.
The purchase comes after Indian refiners snapped up more than 40 million barrels of Russian crude after the US announced a temporary sanctions waiver this month to ease supply shortages.
Other Asian refiners including Indian state firms are making checks to see if they can purchase the oil, several sources have said. However, Asia’s top refiner Sinopec does not intend to buy Iranian oil, a senior executive at the Chinese state giant said on Monday.
Earlier, the United States issued a 30-day waiver for countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea, in what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said was a step to stabilize global energy markets roiled by the Iran war.
Oil prices eased on Friday morning in Asia after the US waiver announcement, which, according to Russia’s presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, would affect 100 million barrels of Russian crude, equal to almost a day’s worth of global output.
The move, the second significant rollback of Ukraine war-related US sanctions in just over one week, was the latest attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to tame energy prices after the US and Israeli strikes on Iran paralyzed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The 32-nation International Energy Agency said on Thursday that the war in the Middle East was creating the biggest oil supply disruption in history.
The licence issued by Washington on Thursday authorizes the delivery and sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products loaded on vessels on or before March 12 and valid through midnight Washington time on April 11, according to the text of the licence posted on the Treasury Department’s website.
