Indian refiner Reliance Industries has begun loading a 2-million barrel cargo of Venezuelan crude oil directly bought from the state-owned oil company PDVSA, Reuters reported on Monday.
Reliance is reportedly one of the few companies that has so far received a general license from the United States allowing it to buy Venezuelan oil under strict U.S. oversight and without violating existing U.S. oil sanctions on PDVSA. Other countries that have received such licenses reportedly include Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Spain’s Repsol.
The license was reportedly issued to Reliance following the arrest of deposed socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in a January 3 law enforcement operation in Caracas authorized by President Donald Trump, which began the Venezuelan regime’s collaboration with the United States under the leadership of “acting president” Delcy Rodríguez.
Reuters, citing company documentation and shipping data, reported that, on Monday, the Helios, a Bahamas-flagged supertanker chartered by Reliance’s Delaware-based subsidiary RIL USA, docked at PDVSA’s José terminal, Venezuela’s main oil port located in the eastern state of Anzoátegui, and began loading its cargo of Merey, the Venezuelan crude-oil blend, with India’s Sikka port as its destination.
Reuters noted that, as per the terms of the U.S. license, oil proceeds from any oil sales remain under U.S. control through bank accounts administered by the Treasury Department and all commercial terms must follow American guidelines.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that India is set to import the most Venezuelan oil in almost six years, a move that reportedly helps the South Asian nation replace oil imported from the Middle East amid the ongoing war in Iran. India imports about 90 percent of its crude oil and has been seeking alternatives after oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz were disrupted. Almost 40 percent of all of the oil used by India transits through the Strait.
According to data from maritime intelligence firm Kpler cited by Bloomberg, more than 12 million barrels of Venezuelan oil are headed to India. Sumit Ritolia, a lead research analyst at Kpler, told Bloomberg that April’s cargoes were likely secured before the recent supply disruptions in the Middle East, which underscores a “longer-term strategic shift rather than a purely reactive move.”
Ritola detailed to Bloomberg that Venezuela’s heavy crude oil barrels tend to yield higher proportions of middle distillates such as diesel and jet fuel, stressing their significance in current market conditions. According to the analyst, most of the India-bound Venezuelan crude is the Merey blend.
Bloomberg explained that the Suezmax tanker Ottoman Sincerity already arrived at India’s Sikka port, marking the first Venezuelan cargo to reach India in a year. The tanker reportedly carried almost one million barrels of asphaltic Boscan crude loaded using ship-to-ship transfers off Aruba. According to Reuters, the India-bound supertankers are helping load cargoes faster at the José terminal, which is accelerating overall crude exports.
Following Maduro’s capture, the Venezuelan regime has begun collaborating with the United States, seeking American help and investment to restore its rundown oil and energy sectors in return for sharing its oil and selling Venezuelan oil under U.S. oversight. Venezuela, a country that used to produce upwards of 3 million barrels of oil per day, has seen its oil output dramatically reduced to less than a million barrels per day over the past years as a result of more than two decades of socialist mismanagement.
According to Reuters, Venezuela’s monthly oil exports surpassed one million barrels per day in March for the first time since September 2025, with the country’s oil sales on the rise since the start of Venezuela’s collaboration with the United States, with an increase in oil output yielding more exports. PDVSA documentation reviewed by Reuters last week reportedly showed that the arrival of India-bound tankers at the José terminal allowed faster activity at the oil port.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.