India has purchased Iranian oil for the first time in seven years
5 April 11:17
India has resumed purchasing Iranian oil amid the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the conflict between the U.S. and Israel on one side and Iran on the other. This was reported by the country’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on the social media platform X, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
“Amid supply disruptions in the Middle East, Indian refineries have secured the necessary amount of crude oil, including from Iran,” the ministry’s statement reads.
The ministry also denied reports that an Iranian oil tanker had changed course from India to China due to payment issues: “Contrary to circulating rumors, no obstacles to payment for Iranian oil imports have arisen.” In addition, the ministry stated that the country received 44,000 tons of Iranian liquefied natural gas (LNG).
As noted by Reuters, oil shipments from Iran to India ceased in 2019 due to U.S. sanctions against Tehran.
On March 20, the Donald Trump administration suspended for 30 days the sanctions restricting the purchase of Iranian oil already at sea. As sources told CNN, Washington took this step because the U.S. had exhausted its main levers for mitigating the effects of the energy crisis.
The U.S. license for India to purchase oil from Russia expired on April 4
Due to the global energy crisis caused by the US and Israel’s war with Iran and Tehran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Washington has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil and petroleum products.
Specifically, India received a temporary license to purchase Russian oil loaded onto tankers by March 5. The license applied only to vessels bound for India, as well as oil purchased by Indian companies. It expired on April 4.
