India’s Reliance Industries has secured approval from the United States to resume importing oil from Venezuela, despite ongoing sanctions. This development follows the re-imposition of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector in April due to President Nicolas Maduro’s failure to uphold election promises. Although the U.S. had reimposed sanctions, some companies were granted licenses to continue trading with Venezuela.
The U.S. Treasury Department did not provide any comments, and Reliance has yet to respond to inquiries about the approval. Bloomberg first reported the news. Before the sanctions were enforced in 2019, Reliance was a major buyer of Venezuelan crude, second only to China’s CNPC.
After the initial sanctions, Reliance reapplied for permission to import Venezuelan oil in May, following the U.S. Treasury’s previous denial of licenses to Indian refiners. Indian companies had continued purchasing Venezuelan oil through intermediaries until the sanctions were reinstated in June.
Furthermore, India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is also seeking a waiver from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control to lift Venezuelan crude, according to industry sources.
