29 Mar 2024
Saturday 22 February 2014 - 08:33
Story Code : 85056

India doubles Iran oil imports in Jan. as western sanctions ease

NEW DELHI Indias oil imports from Iran more than doubled in January from a month earlier, with one state refiner returning from a three-month break as a buyer after sanctions on Teheran were eased due to the interim deal on its nuclear programme.
Yet, the jump may not signify a sudden flood of Irans oil to the market as clients bump up imports. India was able to take more of the crude because it earlier cut its buys the most among Teherans top clients and more than what was needed under the Western sanctions aimed at Irans disputed nuclear ambitions.

Indias oil purchase from Iran in January surged to 412,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from 189,100 bpd in December and 44 per cent higher than a year ago, data compiled by Reuters showed.

January shipments from Iran were the highest since February 2012, shortly after new toughened sanctions from the United States and Europe went into effect, the data also showed. Iran was also Indias second biggest supplier for a month for the first time since March 2012, the data showed.

The big jump last month brings Indias imports from Iran over April-January to about 201,000 bpd, still a decline of 26 per cent from the same 10 months a year earlier.

Thats below a target of 220,000 bpd for the fiscal year that ends March 31, but if imports are held at close to the January levels, the earlier cuts could be wiped out.

If Indias Iranian imports over February and March come in at 318,500 bpd, then its imports for the fiscal year would come in right at the targeted daily average - which represents a cut in the volumes of 15 per cent from the previous year.

State-run Indian Oil Corp, the countrys biggest refiner took Iranian oil in January after not getting oil from Teheran the previous three months, shipping in about 3 million barrels, the data showed.

This fiscal year so far Iran has accounted for about 5.3 per cent of all crude imports, dropping to the seventh position in terms of volume compared with sixth a year ago.

To replace lost Iranian volumes, India imported about 14 per cent more oil from Latin America in the April-January period, with the region accounting for about 19 per cent of overall imports, up from about 17.7 per cent a year ago.

By Oman Tribune

 

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