Iran importing petrol from India, says Iran minister
02 Dec 2009
Iran, the world's fourth-largest exporter of crude oil, is importing petrol from Indian companies, Seifollah Jashnsaz, managing director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), said.
"I can say we import gasoline (petrol) and gas oil (diesel) from India," he said while addressing reporters in New Delhi on Monday. He did not specify any company.
He said Iran was not importing diesel at the moment but is likely to do so as when the need arises. An NIOC official is scheduled to meet executives of Reliance Industries (RIL) in Mumbai, he added.
RIL exported 6.08 million tonnes of petrol and diesel in the July-September quarter, against the 4.5 million tonnes exported in the previous quarter and 3.76 million tonnes in the year-ago quarter.
Market analysts and industry watchers say RIL may not be exporting petrol directly to Iran against the threat of sanctions by the United States government.
Under US pressure refiners world over are limiting export of gasoline to put pressure on Tehran for its disputed nuclear programme.
However, RIL's petrol shipments to the Middle East region rose about 34 per cent to 823,900 tonnes in July-September quarter.
In the third quarter of 2008, RIL directly sold 108,800 tonnes of gasoline from its 1.24 million barrels per day Jamnagar refining complex in Gujarat to Iran.
Jashnsaz also promised to meet any Indian demand for crude from its current production of 4.2 million barrels a day. He also ruled out any immediate output cut by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The oil cartel is expected to meet on 22 December.
