Trend News Agency reported that US efforts to cajole India into substantially reducing crude oil imports from Iran appear to be bearing fruit with the Mr RPN Singh telling junior oil minister the upper house of Parliament that refiners are targeting an 11% overall reduction in crude imports from the Islamic Republic this fiscal year.
India, which relies on Iran for about a tenth of its crude imports has found its access to Iranian oil complicated by insurance and bank settlement obstacles set up by the West in an effort to block Iran's sales networks.
Ms Hillary Clinton US Secretary of State said that during a visit to New Delhi earlier this month that she was encouraged by the steps taken by India to cut Iranian imports, even as she pressed the South Asian country to make further cuts to support international efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Mr Singh said in response to a lawmaker's query that Indian refiners plan to import around 15.5 million tonnes of crude from Iran in the year that began on April 1st 2012 down from the 17.44 million tonnes purchased in 2011 to 2012 and 18.50 million tonnes in 2010 to 2011. Refiners base their import targets on "technical, commercial and other considerations.
She said that in order to reduce its dependence on any particular region of the world, India has been consciously trying to diversify its sources of crude oil imports to strengthen the country's energy security.
The minister's response coincides with a visit by US special energy envoy Mr Carlos Pascual said that Iran wasn't on the agenda in his meetings with Indian counterparts. In addition to India, the US has asked several other major oil importers including Turkey, China, South Korea and Japan to drastically reduce their purchases of Iranian oil by June 28th 2012 or face sanctions on financial institutions that do business with Iran's central bank.
Tehran said that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes but the US and others allege it is aimed at weapons production. Japan and the European Union have already taken steps to dramatically cut Iranian oil imports, earning waivers from US sanctions.
According to Vienna based JBC Energy GmbH, Iran's increasing isolation has begun to take effect, with the country's crude output falling by 4.5% from February to April when it produced 3.2 million barrels per day. That level hadn't been hit since 1990, in the aftermath of the Iran and Iraq war.
Mr Singh said that India currently imports oil from more than 30 countries and there is no shortage or gap envisaged in crude oil procurement by local refiners. The Indian government has directed Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited and Essar Oil Limited the country's top two importers of crude from Iran to reduce Iranian oil shipments by at least 15% this financial year.
