India's Reliance Industries warns of trade flow hit from tariff uncertainties
Reliance Industries, India's biggest buyer of Russian oil, said in its annual report on Thursday that geopolitical and tariff-related uncertainties could hurt trade flows and the demand-supply balance.
The operator of the world's largest refining complex said crude prices remained volatile amid evolving sanctions, shifting tariff policies, and output decisions by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC members.
The report, which did not elaborate on the tariffs, covered the fiscal year to March 2025, before US President Donald Trump ratcheted up pressure on India, imposing on Wednesday an additional 25 per cent tariff on goods imported from the country over its energy ties with Russia.
The new levy, aimed at penalising India for its Russian oil imports, is on top of existing tariffs Washington has levied to fix its trade deficit with New Delhi.
Russia continued to be the largest oil supplier to India during the first six months of 2025, accounting for about 35 per cent of New Delhi's overall supplies, followed by Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, trade data shows.
While state refiners have paused imports of Russian oil, private companies Reliance, Nayara Energy, and HPCL Mittal Energy continue to buy it.
Late last year, Russia's state oil firm Rosneft agreed to supply nearly 500,000 barrels per day of crude to Reliance in the biggest ever energy deal between the two countries.
"If we cave under pressure, we risk losing access to cheaper Russian crude, which could squeeze refining margins. That's a risk for Reliance and oil marketing companies," Pramod Gubbi, co-founder at portfolio manager Marcellus Investment Managers, said referring to additional US tariffs.
Reliance shares fell one per cent on Thursday before trimming losses to close 0.2 per cent down.
Shares of oil marketing companies including Indian Oil Corp closed between 0.4 per cent and two per cent lower.
The European Union has also banned imports of refined petroleum products made from Russian crude processed in third countries, with exceptions for a few Western nations.
It has imposed direct sanctions on Russian-backed private refiner Nayara Energy.
Reliance, a major exporter of refined products, shipped an average of 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 shiptracking data.
(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in New Delhi, Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
