India’s monthly oil imports from Iran surges by about 30% to a record 768,000 barrels per day in July, preliminary tanker arrival data obtained by Reuters showed. The shipments also include consignments that were loaded in June and arrived in India last month, the data obtained from trade sources showed.
July volumes were about 85% higher than the previous year's shipments of about 415,000 bpd, the data showed.
State refiners, which had cut imports from Iran in 2017-18 due to a dispute over development rights of a giant gas field, have tied up significantly higher volumes for this fiscal year that began in April, drawn to the discounts offered by Iran.
Tehran had offered almost free shipping and an extended credit period for oil sales to India, its top oil client after China. Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said in February the country was hoping to sell more than 500,000 bpd of oil to India in 2018/19.
State refiners accounted for about four-fifth of Iranian oil imports in July with Indian Oil Corp along with its unit Chennai Petroleum Corp getting about 300,000 bpd oil from Tehran, the preliminary data showed. In April-July, the first four months of this fiscal year, India’s oil imports from Iran have risen by an annual 40% to about 677,500 bpd, the data showed.
Purchases from Iran could slow from August as imports from Tehran are getting tougher after the United States in May pulled out of a 2015 nuclear deal and announced the renewal of sanctions against Tehran. Some sanctions will take effect from August 6 while others, notably on the petroleum sector, will take effect on Nov 4.
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