Making use of the leniency accorded by the US since it re-imposed sanctions on oil imports from Iran in November last year, Indian refiners have managed to import 22.8 million tonne of crude oil from the Persian Gulf nation in FY19, marginally higher than 22.6 MT imported in FY18. Iran retained the tag of being the third highest crude oil supplier to India last fiscal.
It must be noted though that 80% of FY19 imports from Iran was done by the end of October before imports were restricted to 300,000 barrels per day. Clearly, had there been no restrictions, oil imports from Iran would have hit 27 MT in FY19.
The toughening of the US stance now (removal of the part waiver effective May 2) will have an adverse impact on India’s crude import bill as apart from an overall price spike, New Delhi may have to tap costlier options to source the crude varieties that best suit its main refineries.
