Is it true that Reliance Industries plans to stop buying Russian fuel oil?

It look like Reliance Industries may avoid buying Russian fuels for its plants on the back of Western sanctions on Moscow. Reliance runs one of the largest refineries in India. The sanctions were imposed on Moscow over their invasion of Ukraine. Currently, Reliance buy Urals crude and straight run fuel oil for its refineries from Russia. However, bulk of its supply of crude comes from the Middle East, Africa and the United States.

Currently, most of the crude feed from Russia are going to the PSU oil companies. They are anyways outside the ambit of sanctions and they are unlikely to be hurt. However, private companies like Reliance see downstream impact on their other businesses if the sanctions are not adhered to. That is what Reliance wants to avoid at this point of time.

For instance, since the time Russia invaded Ukraine on 24th February, Indian Oil Corporation ha procured 3 million barrels of Russian Ural crude while HPCL has procured 2 million barrels. Most of the Russian crude is going at deep discount in the global market due to the sanctions and the Indian government has been trying to make the most of it to reduce their overall cost of procuring crude.