India’s oil imports from Iran rose 2.4% in July from a year ago, with some of the shipments among the first after a landmark deal that will allow Tehran to boost exports in return for curbing its disputed nuclear program.
Following the deal with six world powers, Iran is keen to regain market share.
American and European Union sanctions that were toughened in 2011 and again in 2012 halved its exports to around 1 million barrels per day, slashing the OPEC member’s oil revenues and crippling its economy.
India shipped in about 215,400 bpd of Iranian crude in July, down about 24% from the previous month, according to ship tracking data obtained by Reuters and a report compiled by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts.
Tehran was India’s second-biggest oil supplier in the fiscal year to March 31, 2007, but as sanctions bit, it slipped to seventh by 2014-15, government data showed.
Under the accord reached in Vienna on July 14, Iran will be subject to restrictions on its nuclear program in return for the removal of US, UN and European sanctions.
India, the world’s fourth-biggest oil consumer and Tehran’s top client after China, took 20% less Iranian oil at 216,400 bpd in the first seven months of this year, the shipping data showed.
For April-July, the first four months of the current fiscal year, India imported 283,000 bpd crude from Iran, a growth of about 37.3% over the same period of last year.
