India more than doubles Iran oil imports

India more than doubled its crude oil imports from Iran last month from a year ago as sanctions have eased on Tehran, official data show.

According to the reports, the figures released on Tuesday indicated that India imported 387,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil from Iran in March.

The statistics also showed that crude shipments from Iran in the first quarter of 2014 rose about 43 percent from the same period last year.

India imported around 358,000 bpd of Iranian crude in the first quarter of this year.

India’s imports from Iran also registered a two-fold rise in January, surging to 412,000 bpd, up from around 189,000 bpd in December.

Iran’s January oil shipments to the Indian customer increased by 31 percent year on year.

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