Baku, Azerbaijan, June 12
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran has canceled certain privileges to its customers in India which were presented during the sanction-period, Mohsen Ghamsari, director of international affairs at National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC), said.
Iran's Central Bank has announced that it will receive oil payments from India only in euro not rupees, Ghamsari said, Mehr news agency reported June 12.
Because of the nuclear related sanctions against Iran which were removed last January, Indian refiners had been depositing 45 percent of their oil payments to Iran in rupees with India's UCO Bank.
Ghamsari further said that Iran has ended free shipping of crude oil to India.
During the sanction-period, the NIOC sold crude oil to Indian refiners on cost, insurance and freight (CIF) basis, he added.
CIF is a trade term requiring the seller to arrange the carriage of goods by sea to a port of destination.
Iran has recently changed the oil delivery form to Free on Board (FOB), based on which the freight has to be arranged by the buyer, Ghamsari said.
FOB is a trade term requiring the seller to deliver goods to a vessel arranged by the buyer.
He added that Iran has reached an agreement on increasing crude oil sale with certain Indian refineries including Mangalore Refineries (MRPL), Essar, Reliance and Hindustan Petroleum.
Iran's oil export to India has increased by some 20 percent compared to the sanction-period, Ghamsari said.
Earlier, Indian oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the NIOC has informed oil-importing companies like MRPL and Essar Oil since April 2016 that the further delivery would be based on FOB.
Pradhan said the NIOC, however, has agreed to provide vessels and insurance till Indian companies are able to arrange the same.
Iran's crude output stood at 4.2 million bpd before the sanctions, some 2.3 million bpd of which were used for export. The output fell to 3.3 million bpd due to the sanctions while the exports dropped to 1 million bpd.
After the sanctions were lifted in January, Iran has increased the crude export to some 2.2 million bpd aiming to redeem its previous place in the world market.
Iran's oil output also reached 3.5 million barrels per day in April, according to the OPEC.