US lawmakers ask Export-Import Bank to stop aid to RIL for Iran ties
In a statement issued here, Congressman Brad Sherman said that he along with a “bipartisan group of House colleagues” have sent... letter to the Ex-Im president calling on the bank to suspend assistance for RIL, until it agrees to stop selling gasoline to Iran.
The letter also calls on Ex-Im to do a better job in the future to ensure that the projects it supports are not in conflict with US national interests. Ex-Im has approved two separate loan guarantees worth $900 million, including a $ 400 million package in August, 2008.
Reliance has been a major supplier of refined petroleum products to Iran. According to some reports, Reliance has at times provided as much as 30 % of oil-rich Iran’s need for imported refined petroleum products.
Ex-Im’s assistance was approved to help finance the expansion of Reliance’s refining complex at Jamnagar, the very facility that provides Iran with gasoline. Reliance’s subsidiary RPL is set to fully commission its 580,000 barrels per day only-for-exports refinery at Jamnagar by March and along with its existing 660,000 barrels per day facility would become the world’s largest single location refinery.
“I very much support the Export-Import Bank’s mission of supporting US exports. However, we must ensure that when we provide assistance, the corporate recipients are not doing business with our enemies,” said Congressman
