Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has received a concession from the United States allowing it to import Russian crude oil cargoes supplied by Rosneft that were contracted before US sanctions were announced. The company said the permission applies only to previously contracted shipments, which arrived in December within an extended deadline granted by US authorities.

In October, the US imposed sanctions on Russia’s Rosneft and Lukoil, giving companies until November 21 to wind down transactions with the two energy producers. Reliance has a long-term agreement with Rosneft to purchase around 500,000 barrels per day of crude for its 1.4 million barrels-per-day refining complex at Jamnagar in Gujarat, the world’s largest refinery complex.

“We have received permission to bring in cargoes that were contracted before the sanctions were announced. This is not for new cargoes but for older cargoes,” a Reliance Industries spokesperson said.

Separately, the European Union has announced that from January 21 it will no longer accept fuel produced at refineries that received or processed Russian crude within 60 days prior to the bill-of-lading date, tightening restrictions on Russian-origin oil products.

According to an agency report citing trade flow data from Kpler, Reliance has received around 15 cargoes of Russian crude from Rosneft since November 22. The report added that the final cargo under Reliance’s Rosneft supply agreement was loaded on November 12. Any Russian oil arriving after November 20 is being processed at Reliance’s 660,000 barrels-per-day refinery focused on the domestic market, allowing the company to continue fuel exports to the EU from its 704,000 barrels-per-day export-oriented refinery.

In addition, Reliance is scheduled to receive one cargo each of Russian oil in December and January from trader RusExport, according to Kpler data.

India emerged as the world’s largest buyer of seaborne Russian crude following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but has since faced increasing pressure from Washington to curb such imports. Trade sources and LSEG data indicate that India’s Russian oil imports in December are expected to average between 1.2 million and 1.5 million barrels per day, down from about 1.77 million barrels per day in November.