By Arathy Somasekhar, Marianna Parraga and Nidhi Verma

HOUSTON/NEW DELHI, May 6 (Reuters) - Indian oil refiner

Reliance Industries has resubmitted a request to the

U.S. for an authorization to import crude oil from sanctioned

Venezuela, three people close to the matter said, and resume oil

trade between the OPEC producer and the once second-largest

destination for its oil.

French oil producer

Maurel & Prom

separately on Monday said the U.S. on Friday

granted it a license to conduct oil and gas operations in

Venezuela for the next two years.

The U.S. in April did not renew a general license for

Venezuela to export oil and fuel to its chosen markets, and gave

45 days to companies to wind down transactions. But the U.S. had

said some individual authorizations to foreign firms seeking to

do oil business with Venezuela would be issued.

The license had broadly eased Venezuela oil sanctions first

imposed in 2019, moving to reimpose punitive measures in

response to President Nicolas Maduro's failure to meet his

election commitments.

After the easing of sanctions in October, Reliance and other

Indian companies that have business in the past with Venezuela

previously applied to the U.S. Treasury for individual

authorizations. Those were not granted.

Indian refiners, however, resumed Venezuelan oil purchases

through intermediaries. Since October, Reliance has chartered at

least one supertanker to buy crude from state-run oil company

PDVSA. It also received Venezuelan oil cargoes from third

parties, according to internal PDVSA documents viewed by

Reuters.

Before U.S. oil sanctions were first imposed on Venezuela,

Reliance was the second largest individual buyer of Venezuelan

crude after China's CNPC.

Reliance did not reply to a request for comment. The U.S.

Treasury Department declined to comment.

Maurel & Prom's license allows it to continue production

activities under an agreement signed with Venezuela last

November. Its license is the first authorization issued by the

U.S. under the exemptions it offered last month to its reimposed

sanctions regime on the South American country.

"It gives us clear visibility for the future," M&P's CEO

Olivier de Langavant said in a statement. The company owns a 40%

interest in an oilfield joint venture with PDVSA and has agreed

to boost oil output in the field.

The U.S. Treasury and State departments in recent years have

received dozens of license requests from firms interested in

investing in Venezuela's energy industry or importing Venezuelan

crude or gas. Just a few of those individual requests have been

approved, including a key license to U.S. oil major Chevron ( CVX )

.