Reliance suspends supply of diluents to Venezuela amid US sanctions

India's Reliance Industries Ltd, the operator of the world's biggest refining complex, said on Wednesday it had halted the supply of diluents to Venezuela's national oil company PDVSA and will not resume such sales until sanctions are lifted. Reliance, a key oil client of PDVSA, has not increased oil purchases from Venezuela, a company spokesman said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on Monday and they discussed India's purchases of oil from the current Venezuelan government led by Nicolas Maduro. "We are asking the same thing of India as we are of every country: do not be the economic lifeline for the Maduro regime," Pompeo said.