India’s monthly oil imports from Iran surged by about 30 percent to a record 768,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July, as state refiners’ intake surged ahead of US sanctions in November, preliminary tanker arrival data obtained by Reuters showed.
The shipments also include some parcels that were loaded in June and arrived in India last month, the data obtained from trade sources showed.
July volumes were about 85 percent higher than year ago shipments of about 415,000 bpd, the data showed.
State refiners that 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.
In April-July, the first four months of this fiscal year, India’s oil imports from Iran has risen by an annual 40 percent to about 677,500 bpd, the data showed.
In January-July, India’s oil imports from Iran rose by more than 17 percent to about 612,000 bpd, the data showed.
After the US withdrawal, the other signatories to Iran nuclear deal, namely Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany, have strongly objected to the US’s withdrawal, and vowed to make every effort to preserve the deal by providing a mechanism to safeguard Iran's economic interests.
KI/PR