MUMBAI: India’s oil imports from Iran during the 2017/18 fiscal year fell by 15.7 percent from a year ago as state refiners reduced purchases after a row over development rights for an Iranian natural gas field, according to data from shipping and industry sources.
India, the world’s third-biggest oil importer, shipped in a record 4.46 million barrels per day (bpd) oil in the fiscal year that ended in March to feed its expanded refining capacity.
Indian state refiners, including Indian Oil Corp, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, along with it subsidiary Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd, lifted about 27 percent less oil from Iran, the data showed.
Last year India, Iran’s top oil client after China, had instructed state refiners to cut Iranian oil imports after Tehran decided to give development rights of Farzad B gas field to other companies .
However, the countries have now resumed negotiations on the Farzad field. Iran hopes major differences between the two nations on the field will be resolved in two months, Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh said earlier this month.
Iran hopes to sell 500,000 bpd of oil to India during the fiscal year 2018/19, Zangeneh said in February. An Indian source, however, said, the imports from Iran could rise to 600,000 bpd.
