Ambani’s Reliance bought $33 bln of Russian oil, equal to 8% of exports

India’s Reliance Industries, owned by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, purchased about $33 billion worth of oil from Russia, The Washington Post reported, citing Indian government data.

That accounted for roughly 8% of Russia’s $410 billion oil exports over the period, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). “It’s a pretty big number for a single company,” CREA analyst Vaibhav Raghunandan said.

Before the war in Ukraine, India bought almost no Russian oil, but purchases surged as Moscow offered discounts after Western nations imposed sanctions and a $60 per barrel price cap. Indian refiners processed the cheaper crude and resold fuel at market prices. Kpler data showed Reliance sourced about half of its imports from Russia.

Reliance earned an extra $6 billion from discounted Russian oil since 2022, about 38% of Indian refiners’ total windfall of $16 billion, the Financial Times reported. India received an average discount of $11 per barrel, according to Energy Aspects. In August, Donald Trump doubled U.S. import tariffs on India to 50% while urging it to stop Russian oil purchases, and in July the EU banned imports of fuel made from Russian crude.