India’s oil imports from Iran fell 41.5 percent in October from a year ago, down 22.3 percent from September, due to state-run refiner Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL) cut imports on account of maintenance shutdown. The import has hit its lowest in seven months, according to the tanker loading data and report. India took 181,200 barrels per day (bpd) oil from Tehran in October.
According to the data, in the first seven months of India's fiscal year, running from April through October, its oil imports from Iran jumped 5.6 percent to 249,100 bpd as refiners raised purchases after the July deal that may mean the removal of sanctions next year. Iran's overall crude oil and condensate sales looked to be headed towards a seven-month low in October, down 13 percent from September.
The data further highlighted that India, the world's fourth-biggest oil consumer, bought 21.8 percent less Iranian crude for the January-October period at about 212,600 barrels-per-day (bpd). India's imports from Iran for the year-to-date have been dragged down by deep cuts in shipments by New Delhi in the first quarter of 2015, under pressure from the United States to keep its imports within the limits of sanctions targeting Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.
MRPL a key Indian oil client of Iran, which operates a 300,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) coastal refinery in southern India, received about 45,000 bpd Iranian oil in October. The refiner had shut nearly 46 percent of its crude processing capacity for about a month from Sept and 18 for planned maintenance. MRPL planned fewer purchases of Iran oil for last month as its biggest crude distillation unit (CDU) was shut. On the other hand, private refiner Essar Oil took about 136,300 bpd Iranian oil in October.