MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Washington gives Indian refiners the nod to buy Venezuelan crude

Indian refiners were purchasing Venezuelan crude through intermediaries until last month

Major refiners Reliance Industries of India announced it would soon be purchasing crude from Venezuela once again after getting the nod from Washington DC, which would represent an easing of the current sanctions against the South American country.

The privately owned Indian company operates the world’s biggest refining complex, accounting for around 90% of India’s crude imports. Before US sanctions were first imposed, Reliance was the second-largest individual buyer of Venezuelan crude after China's CNPC.

The US administration of President Joseph Biden agreed to suspend all restrictions on Venezuelan oil after President Nicolás Maduro and the opposition agreed in October to hold free and fair elections in 2024. However, the measures went back into force in April given Maduro's failure to abide by democratic principles leading up to the elections. Caracas then accused Washington of violating the 2023 Qatar-brokered accord.

After the 2018 elections, the United States refused to recognize Maduro as Venezuela's president and insisted that the role belonged to National Assembly Speaker Juan Guaido, albeit on an interim basis. In 2019, Guaido called for a popular uprising against Maduro, which ultimately failed. He then moved to live in Miami under US protection.

Since April, international oil companies have been applying for permits from the US Treasury Department to keep doing business in Venezuela, whose crude exports were reported to have reached 654,000 barrels per day last month, the highest since April 2020.

In addition to Reliance, ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, has also applied for waivers to import crude from Venezuela. Reliance had re-submitted a request in May as Indian refiners resumed Venezuelan oil purchases through intermediaries until new sanctions last month halted that go-around mechanism.

India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp are also interested in waivers to buy crude oil from Venezuela.