Iran replaces Saudi as India’s second-largest oil supplier

Iran overtook Saudi Arabia to become India’s second-biggest oil supplier in the April-June period, as refiners in the country took advantage of steeper discounts offered by Tehran, Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan told lawmakers on Monday.

India, which is the second-largest buyer of oil from Iran after China, shipped in 5.67 million tons of oil from Iran in the first three months of the country’s fiscal year, which runs from April to March. The minister did not provide comparable figures from the same period last year.

Indian state refiners shipped in 9.8 million tonnes of Iranian crude in the fiscal year 2017/18, about 25 percent less than the previous year.

Meanwhile, Iraq retained its top spot as oil supplier to India in the three months from April to June, selling 7.27 million metric tons of oil to the country.

Saudi Arabia came in third, with 5.22 million tons during the period, Pradhan said, cited by news outlets.  

India and other major Iranian oil buyers are under pressure from the US to cut imports from the Middle Eastern nation, after President Donald Trump’s administration in May withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran and decided to impose fresh sanctions on the country.

Last month, India asked refiners to prepare for drastic reductions or even a complete half of oil imports from Iran.