India's Essar Oil, the top Indian buyer of Iranian crude, imported 47.7% more Iranian oil in April compared with a year ago, according to tanker arrival data obtained from trade sources and ship-tracking services on the Thomson Reuters terminal. Essar shipped in about 179,100 barrels per day of oil from Iran last month, a decline of about 12.4% from March, the data showed. Essar's oil imports from Iran averaged at about 139,800 bpd in the first four months of 2016 compared with 63,400 bpd of a year ago, when the private refiner had to cut imports under pressure from western sanctions against Iran's nuclear program, the data showed. Iran's share in overall imports by Essar Oil in January-April doubled from about 18.5% in the year-ago period. India has been one of the traditional buyers of Iran's crude, along with China, South Korea, Japan and Turkey. The two countries are forming stronger economic ties after the January lifting of sanctions, as the Middle East nation is raising oil exports and India's fast-growing economy is relying on Iran as a key energy supplier in the long run.
