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India to buy oil from Azerbaijan instead of Iran

16 July 2012 16:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. India’s biggest buyer of Iranian oil, MRPL, has bought Azeri, Saudi and Emirati crude to replace imports from Iran in July and it may halt purchases from Tehran altogether as sanctions make shipments more difficult, industry sources said on Monday. APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€ that loss of exports to Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) would be a blow to Iran, which has seen overseas sales decline by more than half from a year ago due to U.S. and European Union sanctions. The sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program, which the West thinks is aimed at making weapons, are meant to cut the country’s oil revenues. "MRPL has initiated steps to halt its imports from Iran. It is facing problems on a daily basis government pressure, sanctions and the latest is Iran’s threat to shut the Strait of Hormuz," said one of the sources,

MRPL has signed a two-month deal with Azerbaijan after shipments from Tehran were hit in July, besides buying an additional cargo each from its existing suppliers United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, to offset Iranian supply cuts.

Indian Oil Corp, the country’s biggest oil refiner, has been lifting 20,000 bpd of Azeri Light crude in 2012 under an annual contract while Hindustan Petroleum will soon start buying 10,000 bpd from Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR.