Iranian Oil Sales to India Decline

Despite Iran’s eagerness to supply customers, Iranian oil sales this year have dropped to 18.5 million tons from last year’s exports of 21 million tons.

Factors causing the decline include pricing disputes and increasing difficulties over cash transfers, The Hindu Business Line reported.

In discussing Iranian-Indian diplomatic and trade relations the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Ambassador to India, Mehdi Nabizadeh said, “Our bilateral relations are not based on regional issues alone. There are international aspects, too. There is a certain ambiguity between the two countries on some international issues. In economic relations, we have witnessed good growth. From $9 billion in the last four years, bilateral trade has reached $14.9 billion. However, last year it declined to $13.3 billion. The banking and financial system plays a big role in economic relations between countries. Through our political and cultural relations, we have tried to boost our economic relations. Unfortunately, in the last year there has been some difficulty with India in the banking area.”

In referring to oblique U.S. pressure on Iranian oil sales to India Nabizadeh said, “Some European countries because of the U.S. influence over their banking system have created trouble and this has extended to certain Asian countries as well. Till last year, we had a very good transaction mechanism with India through the Asian Clearing Union. Unfortunately, the ACU has stopped conducting transactions. This has not only affected ties between Iran and India, but with all the member countries of the ACU. We have tried very hard to find ways for transfer of money in order to clear the oil import debt which Indian refiners owe to suppliers in Iran.”

By. Joao Peixe, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com