India plans to order a quarter less Iranian crude oil than last year, as state refiners cut term purchase deals over a row between New Delhi and Tehran on development of a natural gas field. The drop in volumes follows India's threat to order state refiners- Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd, and Indian Oil Corp, to reduce purchases from Iran.
The volume cuts would set back India's imports of Iranian crude for this fiscal year at 370,000 barrels per day. India is Iran's top oil client after China and last year imported about 510,000 bpd of crude from the country.
Private refiners Essar and HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd have renewed last year's term contracts to buy 120,000 bpd and 20,000 bpd respectively. Analysts said other than the gas-field row, India is also taking advantage of a narrow price spread between European oil benchmark Brent and Middle East price-setter Dubai crude.
