Australian envoy welcomes Reliance move to supply Australia with Russian-free oil

New Delhi [India], November 21 (ANI): Australian High Commissioner to India Philip Green on Friday welcomed Reliance Industries' decision to supply to Australia oil that is free of Russian crude.

Speaking to ANI, the Australian High Commissioner to India added, "India has been a supplier of petroleum products to Australia for quite some time. The issue of Russian oil has become an important one for us for obvious reasons, because of the illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine by Russia. In Australia, we are keen to avoid, we've totally sanctioned Russian oil to come to Australia."

"And so we were very pleased when Reliance has made clear earlier this week and Reliance is the dominant supplier of oil to Australia. We're very pleased that Reliance is making an arrangement from next month, I believe, whereby from its SEZ refinery, it will only be supplying oil free of Russian content for Australia. That's a good step forward," Green said.

Australian High Commissioner also underlined the rapidly growing cooperation between India and Australia, particularly in sports, critical minerals, and regional security, describing the bilateral relationship as being at its "highest order."

He said the Foreign Ministers' Framework Dialogue remains the most significant annual meeting between the two governments.

"This is where they sit down for two or three hours and go through all of the issues that are before us bilaterally, regionally and globally," he explained.

He noted the close working relationship between the ministers: "Of all of her counterparts that she's met in the world, Dr Jaishankar is the one that she has met the most often, 26 times, including the time that they met yesterday."

A major focus of the meeting was strengthening cooperation on critical minerals. "Australia produces more than half of the world's lithium," Green said, adding that discussions are underway to support India's growing battery and electric vehicle ambitions.

He pointed to an existing partnership between Australia's Critical Minerals Office and India's Khanij Bidesh India Ltd. (KABIL), aimed at identifying key lithium and cobalt projects for the Indian industry.

Reaffirming Australia's commitment to the Quad, Green said, "We live in a world which is more competitive and more disrupted... you need stable, reliable partners." He added that the Quad remains "a powerful vector to try to keep our region, the Indo-Pacific, stable and prosperous and peaceful."

Green confirmed that Australia looks forward to the next Quad Summit in India. "Prime Minister Albanese (Anthony Albanese) will be keen to come whenever that can be scheduled" he said. (ANI)

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