India's Refiners Remain Cautious on Imports From Iran

摘要

Even though India has been increasing crude oil imports from Iran amid a thaw in Tehran's relations with the West, refiners remain cautious about stepping up buying from the Opec country. India's oil imports from Iran for the January- May period climbed 19% year-on-year to 5.79 million tons, or 280,900 b/d, according to government data, after declining by as much as 34% during same period last year due to sanctions imposed by the US and EU to limit Tehran's nuclear program. The six world powers in November agreed for partial lifting of economic sanctions and allowed Iran to export 1.1 million b/d crude as Tehran promised to restrict its nuclear program. Iran is now taking advantage of selling condensates -- which are exempt from sanctions -- in raising exports to China and India (IOD Aug.19'14).