BUSINESS
Despite Western sanctions on Russia following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, there are no direct restrictions on refining Russian crude and exporting the resulting fuel.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd has earned an estimated €724 million (Rs 6,850 crore) from exporting fuel made from Russian crude oil to the United States in one year, according to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
Between January 2024 and January 2025, the US imported €2.8 billion worth of refined oil from six refineries in India and Turkey that process Russian crude. Of this, fuel worth €1.3 billion is estimated to have been refined from Russian oil.
The Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat, owned by Reliance, accounted for €2 billion in fuel exports to the US. CREA estimates that €724 million of this was made from Russian crude. Similarly, Vadinar, home to Russia’s Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy, exported fuel worth €184 million, with €124 million linked to Russian crude.
Other contributions came from New Mangalore, where Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) exported €42 million worth of fuel, with €22 million estimated to be derived from Russian crude.
Meanwhile, Turkey's refineries exported €616 million worth of fuel to the US, with €545 million estimated to have been refined from Russian crude.
Despite Western sanctions on Russia following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, there are no direct restrictions on refining Russian crude and exporting the resulting fuel. However, a price cap of $60 per barrel was imposed by the G7, EU, and Australia to limit Moscow’s revenue.