India's May Month Iran Oil Imports Hit Highest Since March 2014

India’s Import – Increased to Highest Level – May 2014

Last month, India’s imports of Iranian crude oil increased to its highest level since May 2014 as the refiners enhanced the purchase ahead of a final push by the international negotiator in order to reach a deal on Tehran’s doubtful nuclear program by the end of June.

The increase to a 14 month high just two months after India, dropped its import on crude from Iran to zero under the pressure of U.S. to limit the purchases of the Islamic republics’ oil.For the first time, India did not take any Iranian oil, in at least a decade in March this year. Several analysts state that the United States, Tehran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia would be reaching an agreement by or littler later after June 30 deadline for a deal, though the sanctions which have cut Iran’s oil exports to less than half of pre-2012 levels are probably not likely to be lifted till next year.

United States along with its five partners have approved a way of restoring U.N. sanctions on Iran should the country tend to break the terms of any future nuclear deal, clearing a major problem of an agreement ahead of the deadline, though there are several other issues that need to be resolved.

India – World’s Fourth Biggest Oil Consumer

India, being the world’s fourth biggest oil consumer and Tehran’s top consumer after China, had shipped in about 367,900 barrels per day-bpd in nine vessels of Iranian crude in May, up 39% over April, as per preliminary data from trade sources as well as a report compiled by Thomson Reuter Oil Research and Forecasts. The data also indicated that the May imports surged by two-thirds from last year.

Between January to May, India had taken 203,100 bpd from Iran which is about 33% less oil than in the same period of last year, since the nations’ refiners had cut imports in the first quarter. This was to maintain the overall imports from the OPEC producers to a 2013/14 level of around 220,000 bpd. Private refiner Essar Oil was the biggest Indian client of Iran in 2014 which was followed by Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and India Oil Corp.

Iran – Nuclear Programme – Peaceful/Rejects Accusations

The data also indicated Iran’s biggest Indian client in May which was Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd – MRPL.NS that shipped in around 207,400 bpd from Iran. Purchases had been stepped up in May ahead of a three month shutdown by MRPL, during the coming monsoon season of a one point mooring site which enabled it to import oil in large crude carrier, according to a source.

The data also revealed that Indian Oil Corp. – IOC.NS, the country’s largest refiner, received around a million barrels of Iranian oil in May. The data also showed that India’s Iran oil imports surged by 43% to 316,800 bpd, in the first two months of the fiscal year being in April.

According to Iran, it states that its nuclear programme tends to be peaceful and rejects accusations from the Western countries that it wants the possibilities in producing atomic weapons. The data indicated that Iran was the seventh biggest oil supplier to India in 2014 and its share in the overall purchases rose to 7.3% last year when compared with 5.1% in 2013.