Indian Oil Major Starts Cutting Iran Oil Imports

One of the biggest Iranian oil customers among India’s refiners, Nayara Energy—formerly known as Essar Oil—started scaling back oil purchases from Iran this month, Reuters reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the issue.

Nayara Energy has just rebranded after a consortium of investors, including Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft, oil trader Trafigura and UCP investment group, finalized a deal to take over Essar Oil in the summer of 2017, Oil Price reported.

According to shipping and industry sources data provided to Reuters, Nayara Energy usually buys around 6 million barrels of Iranian oil per month. “Nayara will be lifting about 40-50% less than the average volumes, limiting its intake of Iranian oil to about 3-4 million barrels in a month,” one of the sources told Reuters.

"The Indian refiner expects that it would continue to buy Iranian oil in the near future, but it is already looking to have a Plan B for sourcing oil from other suppliers, if it is unable to keep current import levels from Iran because of the returning US sanctions," Nayara’s chief executive, B Anand, told S&P Global Platts in an interview published in early June.

“Yes, with international shareholders, you have to be far more cognizant of the sanctions, the ramifications of the sanctions and we would like to remain sanctions compliant. So whatever is allowed and available within that basket and directions we get, we will focus on that,” Anand told Platts.