New Delhi (Reuters) Mar 2, 2015 – India slashed its Iranian oil imports in February to a 1-1/2-year low to keep annual volumes from Tehran near the previous fiscal year’s levels and within the limits allowed under a deal aimed at curtailing the OPEC nation’s nuclear program.
India, Iran’s top client after China, shipped in about 102,200 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and condensate from Tehran in February, the lowest since July 2013, and down 63 percent from January and 62 percent from a year ago, according to tanker arrival data from trade sources and ship tracking services on the Thomson Reuters terminal.
The cuts follow smaller but still sharp reductions in January. The two months of lower shipments came after New Delhi instructed Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, Essar Oil and Indian Oil Corp to “virtually halt” Iranian oil imports in February-March.
Refiners in India had raised imports during April-December – the first nine months of this fiscal year – by more than 40 percent, leading U.S. authorities to raise an alarm with India’s foreign ministry ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to New Delhi in January, a source involved in the talks said.
MRPL had to buy additional oil from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia for February and March to make up for the reduced Iranian oil imports, said an industry source.
The powers – the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany – are now working with Iran towards a final agreement on sanctions and its disputed uranium enrichment activities, aiming to reach a political understanding by the end of March and a lasting agreement by a June 30 deadline. Two earlier deadlines have been missed.
The West is worried that Iran’s nuclear activities are aimed at making a weapon.