Indian refiner Reliance rejects Iran oil cargoes as waiver deadline looms

NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries has rejected two Iranian oil cargoes as they failed to meet its compliance requirements, the Indian refiner said on Friday, just days before the expiry of a U.S. waiver that has lifted sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

Last month, Washington issued 30-day waivers on U.S. sanctions allowing the purchase of Russian and Iranian oil ‌at sea in an ⁠attempt ⁠to ease prices which soared after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said the ​U.S. would not renew the waivers, with the one on Iranian oil set to lapse on Sunday.


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India had allowed Reliance to buy Iranian oil that was loaded on to five tankers, including the aframax Kaviz vessel, and the supertankers Lenore, Felicity and Hedy, all of which were under U.S. sanctions.

Reliance was in talks relating ⁠to the ‌Iranian-flagged Derya, carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil, which was ​anchored near the ​port of Sikka on India's west coast, ship-tracking data on the ⁠MarineTraffic platform showed on Friday.

The vessel was detected around India's ​coast on April 14, based on satellite analysis from data ​analytics specialists SynMax.

"RIL did not buy cargo in tanker Derya as it did not meet with the company's compliance requirements," Reliance told Reuters in a statement.

The company did not give any more details about the compliance requirements.

Reliance said separately it was not buying the cargo on board the Lenore.

Earlier this month, state-run Indian Oil Corp, the ‌country's top refiner, bought a 2-million-barrel cargo on the supertanker Jaya, which was India's first purchase of Iranian crude in seven years.

The Felicity was positioned ​close to ​the Derya and was likely ⁠to have discharged its cargo between April 14-16, separate SynMax analysis showed.

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The Hedy tanker was not visible from ship-tracking or satellite data on Friday.

The Lenore was last seen in ​the Gulf of Oman more than two weeks ago, MarineTraffic data showed.

The Kaviz was last seen sailing in the Gulf of Oman, according to separate MarineTraffic data on Friday.

It was unclear if this vessel had reached the area where the U.S. has imposed a blockade on ships carrying Iranian oil and other cargoes deemed contraband.