Reliance Industries
has partially offloaded a jet fuel cargo in Italy,
India’s first export to the region since a European Union ban on
products derived from Russian oil took effect on January 21,
data from ship trackers and trade sources showed.
India is one of the top buyers of Russian crude, and market
players are closely monitoring its refined oil exports to Europe
for signs of trade disruptions that could drive up prices for
supply from elsewhere.
The EU’s ban on importing products produced from Russian
crude is aimed at curbing oil revenues Moscow uses to fund the
Ukraine war.
Reliance operates two refineries at its Jamnagar complex –
one geared for exports and one for the domestic market. It said
on November 20 that it stopped processing Russian crude at its
export-oriented facility.
The Aframax tanker Liwa-V, chartered by Reliance, offloaded
about 390,000 barrels of jet fuel, or around half its cargo, at
the Fiumicino port near Rome between February 1 and February 4,
Kpler, Vortexa and a trade source’s ship-tracking data showed.
The Liwa-V arrived in Italy around January 8 and waited
outside the port for almost three weeks, the data showed. It was
originally scheduled to unload the cargo by January 24, two
separate trade sources said.
“The discharge has been delayed due to bad weather, the ship
has already discharged substantial amount of cargo and is
waiting outside the port to offload the cargo completely,” said
a Reliance Industries’ spokesperson.
Reliance segregates Russia-free fuel for European markets
As Western nations have sought to curtail their dependence
on Russian energy over the war in Ukraine, India has been able
to take advantage of Moscow’s discounted crude.
India exported 4.1 million metric tons of jet fuel to Europe
last year, nearly three times the volume it shipped in 2021
before the outbreak of the conflict, Kpler data showed, and it
supplied nearly 15% of Europe’s aviation fuel imports from 2022
to 2025.
Reliance told Reuters that it has been giving written
declarations to European buyers and traders that Russian crude
has not been used to produce fuels exported to Europe.
“Reliance maintains that segregation of diesel streams is
possible, and one would expect the company to explore
workarounds such as FOB (free-on-board) sales or blending
operations should European buyers remain cautious,” Sparta
Commodities’ analyst James Noel-Beswick said.
For January, only one other Indian jet fuel shipment on the
tanker Karpathos is bound for Europe, shipping data from Kpler,
LSEG and two trade sources showed.
Europe has yet to receive any diesel imports from India
since the ban started.
Published on February 5, 2026
