New Delhi: Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday said that Indian companies will continue to buy Iranian oil in November despite the looming US sanctions on that country. The decision comes seemingly in defiance of the US call for sanctions on Iran.
"We have to fulfill our own domestic requirements. Some of our companies have already nominated theire quota for November," said the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, while referring to import of Iran's oil by Indian companies.
"We expect the global leaders will understand our requirements," he said on the sidelines of the "The Energy Forum" here.
The minister's comments come before the US sanctions on Iran kick in from November 4. Currently, India heavily relies on Iran for crude oil imports. The Indian government has repeatedly requested the US administration for awaiver of these sanctions for India, but has so far not received an affirmative resonse.
"The question is, has the waiver beengranted or not. WE don't know if the waiver has happened or not, but the Indian companies have gone ahead and booked the order", said Pradhan.
The companies that have placed orders for Iranian oil for November deliveries, are Indian Oil Corporation and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, with a total order quantity of 1.25 million tonnes, according to an official in the Petroleum Ministry.
The US embassy in India has not made any response to the minister's statement.
(With input from IANS)
On October 4, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced a cut in excise duty by Rs 1.50 a litre. Additionally, the state-owned oil marketing companies have been mandated to reduce prices of petrol and diesel by Re 1 a litre.