This file photo shows installations at Indias Essar Oil refinery.[/caption]Official data show that India increased its crude oil imports from Iran by nearly 33 percent in the first half of 2014.
Irans January-June oil shipment to India stood at 281,000 barrels per day (bpd), up by a third from 211,400 bpd exported in the same period last year, Reuters reported.
Irans contribution to total Indian oil imports rose to 7.3 percent in the first half of the year, up from 5.4 percent last year.
Indias refiners had to cut oil imports from Iran in 2013 because sanctions against the Islamic Republics oil sector banned insurance coverage for refineries processing Iranian oil.
Indias June intake was up some 19 percent from the same month in 2013.
India and other Asian buyers of Irans oil China, Japan and South Korea are expected to receive between 1.25 million and 1.3 million bpd of oil from Iran in the first half of the year.
Mohsen Qamsari, head of international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company, said recently that Iran is exporting an average of one million bpd of its oil based on the November 2013 interim nuclear deal with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany.
Under the deal, the six countries undertook to provide Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities.
The two sides have agreed on the extension of nuclear talks until November 24 with a view to achieving a permanent accord.
By Press TV
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