Reliance Industries, India’s biggest buyer of Russian oil, has cautioned that continuing geopolitical and tariff-related uncertainties may affect trade flows and impact the supply-demand balance.
The company runs the world’s largest refinery in a single location at Gujarat’s Jamnagar, processing a variety of crude oil blends to make petrol, diesel, ATF and related products for the domestic as well as export market.
Commenting on the outlook for its oil-to-chemical (O2C) business, RIL in its annual report published on Thursday, said oil demand is likely to maintain growth despite EV penetrations, largely driven by strong economic growth, China stimulus measures and possible easing of geopolitical tension.
However, “continuing geopolitical and tariff-related uncertainties may
affect trade flows and demand‑supply balance”, it said.
The report, which did not name Russia as a source for crude oil procurement, comes a day after the US slapped a punitive 50 per cent tariff on merchandise goods from India for buying Russian crude and allegedly financing the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump referred to India’s purchase and re-export of Russian crude oil in a social media post in the run-up to slapping an additional 25 per cent duty. “India is not only buying a massive amount of Russian oil, they are then, for much of the oil purchased, selling it in the open market, for big profits,” Trump said on August 4.
O2C is the biggest contributor to RIL’s financial performance, which comprises diverse businesses such as telecom, retail, media and entertainment. The company had a throughput of 80.5 million tonnes of crude in FY25 at Jamnagar.
Reliance, a major exporter of refined products, shipped 2.83 million barrels of diesel and 1.5 million barrels of jet fuel per month to Europe in the first seven months of this year, according to LSEG ship-tracking data.
Commenting on the global crude prices, RIL said it continues to remain volatile on the back of the dynamic interplay of various factors such as geopolitical volatility in West Asia, redirection of shipping routes, Opec+ and non-Opec production decisions, regional capacity additions and downstream supply-demand realignments, evolving sanctions and trade tariff regimes and rate of recovery of the Chinese economy.
Vectors of growth
In his address to shareholders, RIL chairman and managing director Mukesh D. Ambani identified retail, digital services, media and entertainment, and new energy as the four new engines of growth.
“Each of these platforms is technology-first, innovation-led, and positioned to disrupt industries while delivering massive value to Indian consumers and the global market,” Ambani wrote.
On its O2C business, Ambani said they would continue to grow while catering to India’s rising energy and materials demand.“We are not just scaling businesses — we are building platforms that empower people ... and elevate India’s position in the global economy,” he said.