India oil imports from Iran up by 35% in December

Recent data show India’s crude oil imports from Iran increased by 35.2 percent in December 2013 compared to a year earlier despite the US-led sanctions against Iran.s

Essar Oil Ltd purchased 54,200 barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian crude oil in December last year, and shipped an average 81,300 bpd from Iran in 2013, Reuters reported.

India is among Asia’s major importers of energy, and relies on the Islamic Republic to satisfy a portion of its energy requirements.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

On January 19, Iranian Ambassador to New Delhi Gholam Reza Ansari said the Islamic Republic is examining ways to export natural gas to India.

Ansari pointed to India’s eagerness to import Iran’s natural gas through a deep-sea pipeline, and said Tehran is considering the feasibility of such a project.

In December 2013, Ali Amirani, the director of marketing at National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC), said following negotiations with three Indian firms Iran has generally agreed to export natural gas to India through a deepwater pipeline crossing the Sea of Oman.