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‘India refiner to resume Iran oil imports’

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Major Indian oil refiner Chennai Petroleum Corporation (MRL) reportedly plans to resume crude oil imports from Iran after a two-year hiatus as insurers return to the market.

“This year, we plan to restart Iran oil purchases,” Managing Director S. Venkataramana was quoted by Bloomberg as saying on Wednesday.

“We are already talking to the re-insurers for this, and we are getting positive responses so far,” he said.

Venkataramana said that Chennai Petroleum, which is controlled by Indian Oil Corp. (IOCL), plans to purchase about 300,000 metric tons of crude oil from Iran in the current Persian calendar year (ending in March 2015).

“We can buy 1 million tons a year from Iran, but because we will start imports in the latter half of the year, it may be about 0.3 million tons this year,” he said.

Chennai Petroleum operates two refineries in southern India with a combined capacity of 11.5 million tons a year. The refiner last imported Iranian oil in the year ended in March 2012.

At the beginning of 2012, the US and EU imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil or extending insurance coverage for tankers carrying Iranian crude.

India is among the main importers of Iran’s crude exports. The country increased its oil imports from Iran by about 46 percent to 270,600 barrels per day (bpd) in January-July compared with the same period last year.

Iran has seen a rise in its oil exports following the implementation of an interim nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers over Tehran’s nuclear energy program as of January.

The Geneva deal sealed between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain – plus Germany last November provided Iran with some sanctions relief in exchange for the country agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear energy program.

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