India: Bharat Suspends Iran Purchases Due to Payment Issue
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Wednesday, 11 January 2012 |
A payment issue involving Turkey’s state-owned bank Halkbank has forced state-run refiner and distributor Bharat Petroleum to suspend the purchase of crude oil from Iran. Halkbank recently refused to allow Bharat Petroleum, which began buying 20,000 bpd of crude from Iran last year, to open an account for making payments to Iran.
As a result, company sources told India’s Economic Times, Bharat was unable to complete a payment of $107m before a December 12 due date, and has stopped buying oil from Iran until a suitable payment mechanism can be put in place. The company plans to make up the shortfall by purchasing oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia, the Economic Times added.
Halkbank had been routing payments from Indian firms to Iran since July 2011, when the Reserve Bank of India stopped facilitating payments to Iran’s central bank. The prospect of new sanctions against the Middle Eastern nation represents a potential problem for Indian refiners, who buy an estimate 370,000 bpd in total from Tehran. The largest buyer of Iranian oil, MRPL, has not contracted any supplies for the financial year which begins in April. It is currently buying 142,000 bpd from Iran.
PetrolWorld 11012012
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