Essar Raises Iran Oil Imports

Essar Oil, Iran's key Indian client, doubled oil imports from Iran in 2016/17 to about 239,000 barrels per day as it stepped up shipments after sanctions against Tehran were lifted, according to tanker arrival data obtained from trade sources and ship-tracking services on the Thomson Reuters terminal. Essar shipped in about 91,000 bpd of oil from Iran last month, a decline of about 63% from February, the data showed, as it diversified its crude basket, Reuters reported. In the last fiscal year, Indian refiners' oil imports from Iran topped a half-a-million-bpd mark. The South Asian nation imported 541,000 bpd oil from Iran, the data showed. Iran's crude oil traded above $53 a barrel in the week to April 14, reflecting the global confidence in a pact between OPEC and non-OPEC producers to slash supplies to boost flagging oil prices.