Indian Oil Corporation accounted for most of September's rise from the previous month.

India imported 17.3 per cent more crude oil from Iran last month than it did in August as its top refiner made its first buy from Tehran for a new plant, according to ship tracking data and a report compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.

Indian Oil Corp, India’s biggest refiner, accounted for most of September’s rise from the previous month, taking a very large crude carrier carrying two million barrels of oil for its recently commissioned 3 lakh barrel-per-day (bpd) Paradip Refinery on the nation’s east coast, the data showed.

IOC’s first purchase of Iranian crude in four months helped lift imports of the oil to 2.33 lakh bpd in September compared with 1.99 lakh bpd in August, the tanker arrival data showed. The September intake was down 3.4 per cent from a year ago.

IOC is not a regular buyer of the crude as its term contract with the Islamic republic averages only about 25,000 bpd. Still, the world’s fourth-biggest oil consumer and Iran’s top client after China, bought 19.3 per cent less oil in January-September at about 2.16 lakh bpd, the data showed.

India’s imports from Iran in the first nine months of the year were dragged down by deep cuts in shipments by New Delhi in the first quarter of 2015, under pressure from the U.S. to keep its imports within the limits of sanctions targeting Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme.

In the first half of India’s fiscal year, running over the six months April-September, its oil imports from Iran jumped 16.7 per cent as refiners stepped up purchases following the July deal that may mean the removal of sanctions sometime next year.

Three Indian refiners, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, Essar Oil and IOC together imported 2.61 lakh bpd in the first six months of this fiscal year compared with 2.23 lakh bpd a year ago, the data showed.

India’s imports of Iranian crude in September were largely as expected based on revised tanker loading schedules for the month that excluded shipments of condensate, according to a source with knowledge of Iran’s shipping plans.

Iran’s overall crude oil sales look to be headed towards a seven-month low in October, down 14 per cent from September, according to preliminary tanker loading data.

By The Hindu