اخبار

Essar's Iran Oil Imports Up 64% in February

Tehran, March 30 (Shana) - Essar Oil, the top Indian buyer of Iranian crude, raised imports from Tehran by about two­thirds in February compared with the previous month, according to tanker arrival data obtained from sources.

Essar Oil's overall shipments from Tehran rose 3.7 percent at about 112,200 barrels per day (bpd) in the first eleven months of the contract year beginning April 1, 2015, the data assessed by Thomson Reuters Oil Analytics showed.

India's oil imports from Iran rose by more than a quarter in February from the previous month, buoyed by lifting of some western sanctions against Tehran in January.

Essar imported 108,700 bpd oil from Tehran in February compared with 22,300 bpd a year ago when the South Asian nation had slowed purchases under pressure from the western sanctions, the data showed.

Essar's total crude imports in February rose 11 percent from January to about 393,000 bpd, the data showed

In the meantime, Iran cemented its position among India's crude oil suppliers in February, exporting 86% more crude than it did in February 2015 , according to latest shipping data obtained by Platts and cFlow, Platts trade flow software.

India imported 713,126 mt of crude oil from Iran in February, up 86% year on year, but down 30.5% from January, the data showed.

India has become an attractive market for suppliers given its strong oil demand growth rate and refining capacity expansion plans.

Indian refiners are being wooed by almost all Middle East suppliers with more market engagement and flexible import terms.

India's total crude imports rose 29.7% year on year in February to 17.04 million mt (4.30 million b/d), the shipping and cFlow data showed. February crude imports were up 4.4% from January.

According to official data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, India imported 16.88 million mt (4.27 million b/d) of crude oil in February.