Reliance rejects claims of Russian oil cargoes coming to Jamnagar refinery: 'Blatantly untrue'

Reliance expressed disappointment that its denial was allegedly ignored in the report's publication

Reliance Industries Ltd on January 6 strongly rejected claims of Russian oil imports to its Jamnagar refinery, saying that such news reports are "blatantly untrue" and is "tarnishing" its image.

The Mumbai-headquartered company, while mentioning a Bloomberg News report, reiterated that it has not received any imports of Russian oil in the last three weeks and is not expecting any Russian crude oil deliveries this month.

In a statement posted on X, the company said a Bloomberg report claiming that "three vessels laden with Russian Oil are heading for Reliance Industries Limited's Jamnagar refinery" was incorrect.

Reliance also expressed disappointment that its denial was allegedly ignored in the report's publication.

"A news report in Bloomberg claiming "three vessels laden with Russian Oil are heading for Reliance Industries Limited's Jamnagar refinery" is blatantly untrue. Reliance Industries's Jamnagar refinery has not received any cargo of Russian oil at its refinery in the past three weeks approx. and is not expecting any Russian crude oil deliveries in January," RIL posted on X.

Saying that the report had hurt the company's reputation, RIL added, "We are deeply pained that those claiming to be at the forefront of fair journalism chose to ignore the denial by RIL of buying any Russian oil to be delivered in January and published a wrong report tarnishing our image."

A Bloomberg report titled 'Ships with Russian oil signal Reliance Plant as Destination' had claimed that shipping data indicated the movement of Russian crude towards India's west coast. According to Bloomberg, "A Reliance spokesman denied that the cargoes had been purchased by the company, adding that it didn't have any committed shipments of Russian crude for delivery in January."