Azerbaijan, Baku, Jun.17/ Trend F.Karimov/
Iran OPEC governor Mohammad-Ali Khatibi has rejected recent news about selling oil at discount prices to India, ILNA reported.
"Some psychological moves have been made to damage Iran's oil exports and force Iran to sell crude oil at low prices," Khatibi said, adding that Iran is selling oil based on official selling prices (OSP) to different buyers in Asia, Europe, and Africa.
On Friday, the Indian oil minister said crude oil from Iran costs India $2 less per barrel than global prices, outlining the reasons for the country's desire to source oil from sanctions-hit Tehran.
"The cost is $2 less ... that's why we are seriously engaging with Iran," M. Veerappa Moily said.
In a move that has both commercial and strategic implications, India is looking to increase its oil imports from Iraq even as it continues to reduce its dependence on Iran's oil, HT reported.
With Iraq increasing production and the crude being the same as that of Iran's, it can be an easy substitute for Iranian oil, which is under a squeeze of sanctions from the US and European Union, due to country's nuclear program.
There has been a substantial dip in Iran's contribution to India's total crude import. According to latest official statistics, in the year 2012-13 (ending in March), India's import decreased by over 26.5 percent.
Also in 2012-13, Iranian supplies accounted for 7.2 percent of India's oil imports, down from 10.5 percent in the previous year.